The Sun and Moon of House Lyon
by Anime Princess
Summary: Sorry this took so long! It's the longest chapter and then there was the login problem...I hope you like this last part! BABY TIME!
1. Chapter 1

This story will be **9 chapters long** and follow the pregnancies of **Emogen and Cordelia.** The other ladies will be in different stages of pregnancy as well, but this will focus more on Lancelot and Emogen with Cordelia and Arthur to the side. I will mention the others and the Knights will get a dose of true horror and comedy at the same time. I hope you like it!

The Sun and Moon of House Lyon

Lancelot took a deep breath as the emerald green and silver carriage that had been presented to him and his new wife by their King and Queen on their wedding night came to a halt. The noise outside was clamoring and very familiar. He winced slightly; that meant that he probably had a stack of parchment waiting for him to read and sign.

Emogen laughed slightly at him and he playfully glared at her and asked, "Oh and what's so funny, if I may ask?"

Emogen's sparkling emerald orbs twinkled at him as she answered, "Oh, it's nothing really, just your face."

Lancelot glowered at her mockingly and said in a fake hurt voice, "My maiden shows her true colors! She thinks me nothing but a clown!"

Emogen laughed again and said, "Of course! But that's not what I was talking about."

"Oh, then what were you talking about?"

Emogen's smile softened and she replied, "You just looked like you had been given a horrid punishment that's all."

Lancelot blinked as said as the carriage's door opened, "I have, can you imagine all the paperwork I have to go through now?"

"Announcing my Lord Lancelot Shieldguard of the House of Lyon and his new bride, Lady Emogen Serenity of the House of Lyon, have returned!" called out a man's voice from his left. He barely glanced at the male announcer though-it was probably Norse, the runaway Saxon they had found a day before Arthur and Cordelia's return. Arthur took pity on the man. Norse, it turned out, didn't want to fight, but Cerdic made him by killing Norse's daughter right in front of him. None of the Knights could deliver the crushing blow after that tale. Even if it was a fake story fabricated to save his life, the Knights didn't care. They were all tired of war and bloodshed anyway.

Lancelot took another deep breath and said as he helped her out of the carriage, "Ready, My love?"

Emogen smiled at him and he marveled at their height differences. When they were on even ground, he towered over his wife by half a foot and it was very clear to him at this particular time because she was still standing on the carriage's step and he was on the ground and their eyes were even with one another.

As they turned to the people that awaited them, they smiled. Lancelot hid a grin-Arthur looked very frazzled. He had a funny feeling that Arthur was going to be spending a lot of time in his chambers tonight while the ladies hounded Emogen about their wedding night.

"Lord Lancelot, welcome home! You have been dearly missed." Greeted Arthur formally. Lancelot bit back a laugh as he thought, _Yes, I bet I was. I don't even think Tristran's legendary endurance could compete against you when you truly let your frustrations go, my friend._

He replied back respectfully, "My King, your welcome is thanked."

Arthur turned to his friend's wife and said, "Welcome back Lady Lyon, your presence in our court has also been dearly missed. Your calming presence will once again shine in our halls."

Emogen smiled slightly at her husband's best friend and said with a curtsy, "I am honored you think so highly of me your majesty."

Cordelia had enough, "Emmy! It's wonderful to see you! Come! You must tell us all about your trip!"

She pulled Emogen away with a happy laugh. Lancelot eyed the two cousins warily. Something seemed different about Cordelia. Now that he though about it, Emogen seemed different too. Not bad, mind you, but something was different. It was as if their entire presence had gained a gorgeous glow and blanketed the entire area around them. It made him feel warm and strangely enough- protective. He looked at Arthur. He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly in their wives direction.

Arthur shrugged and said, "I don't know, my friend, but I see the same thing that you do. I think the women know something though…and that's the true mystery."

Lancelot let it go and said with an exaggerated sigh, "Well Arthur, are you the lucky one to lead me to my doom?"

Arthur raised and eyebrow and Lancelot added with a grin, "Well, the others sure aren't in a hurry to welcome me back, so the paperwork on my desk must be horrendous!"

Arthur snorted and said dryly, "Oh yes, they were so frightened that they let their dearly loved King tell his second the good news."

The two friends laughed as they entered the first floor of the castle. It was very beautiful and Lancelot could tell immediately where the new additions were. After all, he had spent two weeks here conducting a legion worth of construction workers! He glanced at Arthur from the corner of his eyes. Arthur seemed to be exerting a restrained curious air about him to. He decided to hold off questioning his friend about his obvious, **to him**, curiosity and commented instead on the castle's progression.

He nodded and said, "It's coming along nicely."

Arthur nodded and said, "Yes, it most definitely is. Grandorf is very pleased with how fast things are progressing. At this rate, Camelot will be finished by the coming of the new year and Kameland by Beltane."

As they entered Lancelot's first floor chambers, he groaned. Upon his new oak desk, was a stack of parchment nearly a foot high.

Arthur grinned and said in a fake helpful voice, "At least it isn't three stacks like mine was!"

Lancelot just glared at his friend and grumbled as he tossed himself into his large dark oak throne-like chair with emerald cushions and stared morosely out his window. With a sigh he pulled the top parchment off the stack and began to read.

Arthur gave him five minutes before he said; "Cordelia has an important announcement to make to us before we conduct our very first public announcement to the kingdom as a whole. According to Merlin, Merkin, and Duncan, you, Emogen, Cordelia, and I will be in the front with the rest of the Knights and their Ladies will flank us from behind."

Lancelot looked up and nodded as he said thoughtfully but seriously, "It's a unification ploy to show the kingdom that we're united even in the most trying of times. This is probably one of the most important speeches you will make Arthur. This speech will show the entire kingdom, nay, **the world**, that you are King of Briton and will do everything in your power to protect it's people from those who would seek to destroy our newly won freedom."

Arthur sighed and said warily, "I know. I just hate to have all that weight baring me down."

Lancelot looked up from his second piece of parchment and frowned. Arthur looked more tired than he should.

He eyebrows furrowed as he said in a dark knowing tone, "You haven't been eating **_OR_** sleeping right, have you?"

He watched Arthur wince and knew immediately that he was right. He sighed and rubbed the area between his eyes. He could feel a headache starting to form and it was not even an hour into his real first official duties as Knight Commander.

"Arthur, you know that as King you **MUST** take care of yourself! You can't work yourself so hard that you'll be to tired to do normal everyday activities."

Arthur shot him a reproachful look and said a bit hotly, "I know how to take care of myself."

Lancelot frowned and thought _He's much to tense. How long has this been going on? I know he wasn't like this before I left…what happened while I was gone?'_

"Okay Arthur, lets have it. What's wrong?" he demanded as he stood up and marched right up into Arthur's face.

Arthur backed up on instinct and retorted back, "What makes you think anything is wrong?"

Lancelot grinned cockily at him and said in a voice he **KNEW** would make Arthur reaming mad, "Well, for one, you hardly ever show such emotions as pain or wariness-even in front of me. For me to see it as plain as day, **WITHOUT** having to really look for it, something is wrong. Two, I'm me."

Arthur growled at him and snarled, "Like you'd know anything of it!"

Lancelot smiled internally and thought, _that's it Arthur, time to loose your famous bland look and show me your anger. Although, I hate the fact that you have to get this angry to actually show you ARE angry. Holding it all in, is your worst characteristic. _

"Oh course I do, I know you inside and out…remember?" continued Lancelot cockily.

Arthur took a deep breath and yelled, "First I have to deal with Seamus and Dean! They are bloody ridiculous! Worse than Tristran ever was! Then I find out that Merlin had planned on smuggling Guinevere back into Briton, but was thwarted by Cerdiwen's group at the last minute! Following that, I had to publicly punish him in front of everyone **AND THEN** I find out that a group of Saxons-four hundred strong-is marching their way down here this moment!" His voice grew soft and tired, "Our troops aren't strong enough to fight them back Lance. We simply do not have the manpower to win this time."

Lancelot's eyes widened as Arthur's true problems laid themselves bare at his feet. _So that's the reason he's so tense. Understandable. Now, what of Galahad…_

"What of Galahad's training? Are the senior troops anywhere close to being ready? What is Tristran, Gawain, Dean, and Seamus planning?" asked the First Knight. He was, of course, referring to the group of fifty men and women picts that had immediately signed up to join the army when Arthur and Cordelia were crowned and Galahad's title as Arms Master had been made official. They had been eager to be trained by an ex-Knight of Sarmatia since the Sarmatian Knights were legendary warriors throughout the Roman Empire.

Arthur's rage shimmered out as he stared into his friend's concerned brown eyes. Emogen had once told him, before their weddings, that Lancelot's eyes could change colors with his emotions as easily as his did. At the time, he hadn't believed it. Now he did. He was amazed. Lancelot's eye color, when he arrived, had been a dark brown that held a strange inner glow that made them seem lighter than truly were. In fact, his eyes had made him seem years younger-like he was fifteen again. As they walked though the castle, his eyes had been burning with pride making the dark brown color shimmer. When he saw his desk and all the paper on it, they had dimmed but they still held the sparkle of joy in them. And now, his eyes were burning with anger, worry, and determination making his eyes change from dark brown to nearly black. He was angry with himself for not noticing that part of his friend a long time ago, but he also knew that, that was the kind of thing only a lover could truly see in a person. No matter how close he and Lancelot were, only Emogen would see all the sides of his First Knight for the purity that he was.

"Well, Galahad's increased the training and Gawain and Tristran have created a schedule for rotations for the guards. It's somewhere in all that paperwork. All it needs is your signature and mine before they can enact it though. At least, we have a month before they arrive here. That'll give us enough time to work out more details. Hopefully, with Emogen here now, we can arrange a nice quiet peace treaty with the Saxons." Stated Arthur with a tired wave at the stack of papers.

With a jump, Lancelot hurriedly shifted through the thick papers until he found the sheet he was looking for. It was three pages long and, as with Tristran's usual behavior, it was very detailed. Lancelot read through it quickly and signed it. He handed it over to Arthur and watched his friend read it and sign it too.

They were silent for a moment. Lancelot hated silence. That's why he enjoyed teasing Bors so much. It guaranteed an hour worth of noise. It made him feel safe. Plus, he was uncomfortable with this silence. He had never felt this with Arthur before- even when they had just met- and it unnerved him.

So, in an attempt to bring back the lightness of before, he asked, "So, when do you get to make a fool of yourself?"

Arthur cast him a knowing glare, smiled slightly, and said, "In a few minutes actually. You arrived later than we anticipated. Come on, time to put on the formal gear."

Lancelot groaned as he theatrically heaved himself from his place leaning against his desk and said, "The things I do for you, my friend. I could be half way to Sarmatia by now free of all this paperwork and fancy clothes."

Arthur chuckled and Lancelot smiled. While his friends, tenseness wasn't completely gone; he had managed to drain a lot of it out of Arthur's soul. He could tell because Arthur's eyes were once again a calming sea green that made even **HIS** knees quiver from time to time in admiration. AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO ADMIT IT EITHER! He thought to himself with a smirk.

Very quickly they found a spare room to change their clothes, and rushed through the hallways to find the other Knights of the Round Table, the Ladies of Camelot, and the Advisor's of State, Merlin, Merkin, and Duncan waiting for them with identical grins.

Lancelot threw his brother's-n-arms a mock hurtful look and said, "Well, I see I wasn't to badly missed since none of you were there to greet me."

The Knights chuckled as Galahad said jokingly as he placed a hand over his heart, "Oh the horror of it all! Lancelot has been missing for not two weeks and the whole of the world must come to an end! Since, of course, life cannot continue without dear, sweet Lance here to guide us all to happiness!"

The group laughed loudly as Lancelot stuck out his tongue at the younger man. Galahad grinned and returned to gesture.

Cordelia stepped in between them with amusement clear in her sapphire eyes as she said, "Now, now, as funny as this is I have something to tell you all."

Emogen stepped up to her husband's side and said, "Me too."

Lancelot looked at her in confusion. He didn't know of any announcements. Emogen simply smiled at him and winked. _Ah, _he thought with a smile, _it's supposed to be a surprise for me too. I wonder what it is?_

Arthur placed a hand on his wife's cheek and said, "Well, we're listening my wife, what is this announcement of yours?"

Cordelia's face bloomed to life and as she placed Arthur's large hand upon her still flat stomach said happily, "I'm pregnant my love."

Arthur's face blanched white and then rushed red with joy. He laughed, picked her up, and swung her around in a circle. The Knights, Ladies, and Dukes (_title in last story…chapter 9 or 10 or something_) cheered for their King and Queen. An heir to the throne was exactly what the group needed to motivate themselves. This was what was needed to lift the low morale of the Kingdom too. Lancelot cheered the loudest for his friend. He knew it had been a dream of Arthur's to have children, but upon his _'of Age'_ party, the appeal lessened when he realized he would have to leave his men for Rome to marry a Roman woman, and he didn't want to do that and leave his Knights to the fury of another Roman Commander.

When the cheering died down, Emogen stepped in and said, "I'm pregnant as well."

The group froze and turned to Lancelot. Lancelot felt all the eyes on him and for once in his life wished to hide under a very large rock and not come out until all of them were old and long beneath the earth. His tanned face paled dangerously, but then infused with a brightness that amazed everyone. Then his eyes grew terrible large. _Pregnant…pregnant! PREGNANT! That makes me a f…f…fa…fath…father! I…I don't know how to BE a father…I…WAITAMINUTE! Why am I so nervous? This is Emmy! My wife! My love for al time! Of course I'd have a child with her! I want children with her! So why am I staring at her like she just told me she's my mother in disguise!_

He watched her eyes lower and she asked timidly, "Lancelot, are you not happy about this?"

_You idiot! Look at what you've done! Tell her how happy you are RIGHT NOW!_

_Yikes! I am I am!_

Lancelot placed a warm hand under her chin and said sweetly, "Emmy, my maiden, I'm thrilled!"

Then he pulled her into a deep meaningful kiss right there in front of their friends. The group sighed in silent relief and started to cheer once more. With tonight's, announcement of the new Prince or Princess and the new heir of House Lyon, the Kingdom and Camelot had something new to celebrate.

When Lancelot pulled away from his wife, he stumbled slightly up to his friend and said in a dazed sort of tone, "Baby…me…father…"

Arthur placed a hand on his friend to stabilize him and said joyously, "Yes my friend, you're going to be a father."

Lancelot barked out a laugh and said, "That's what I thought."

He turned towards Arthur and said, "Arthur…"

"Yes?"

"Good night."

Arthur turned to Lancelot in alarm as his friend fainted.

"LANCE!" he exclaimed with wide eyes.

Ula chuckled and said, "Well, what do you know? The First Knight of Arthur is a fainter. Who would have thought?"

The entire group burst out laughing at the plight of their friend and Knight Commander. They grinned at one another mischievously and Arthur read it correctly: **We're _NEVER_ going to let him live this one down!** They laughed even louder when they saw his face. It had the biggest smile branded across it.

Emogen simply knelt down, placed her husband's head in her lap, and smiled as she caressed his brow.


	2. Chapter 2

The Sun and Moon of House Lyon 2

Lancelot felt odd. He could have sworn he was standing on his feet in his last memory. But now, if what his body was telling him was true, he was lying on his back on the hard stone floor and his head was cushioned on something soft and warm.

He felt someone's hand running through his curly hair and sighed contently. Then he heard laughter.

"Wakey-wakey Lance!" cooed a familiar female voice.

With bleary eyes, he stumbled to his feet and looked at the speaker. It was Ula with her brown eyes twinkling at him, and she was holding some of her dirty wavy blond hair out of her face.

"Wha…?"

Then he heard a group of very familiar laughs. He grimaced and turned to his brothers-n-arms. They were snickering into their hands and even Arthur looked like he wanted to burst out laughing in his face. Luckily for him, Arthur was to good a friend to do that. But, at the same time, Arthur will tease him mercilessly for the next nine months…_Nine months…Emogen…BABY!_

He spun around and looked at his wife with wide eyes that glittered with hope. Emogen smiled and nodded with tears of happiness in her eyes. Lancelot barked out laughing, picked her up, and spun her around with joy filling his heart so much he felt like it would burst.

Arthur clapped him on back when he put his wife down and said, "Come, we have joyous news to spread to our people, my friend."

Lancelot smiled and nodded as they **FINALLY** joined Merlin, Merkin, and Duncan. The three older advisors' of Arthur smirked at him with happiness and nodded in acknowledgement. Duncan especially as it was his daughter and new son-n-law that was expecting. Merkin just smirked at Arthur and Cordelia and winked. Merlin looked happy for them, but at the same time he had sadness in his brown eyes. _Well, Guinevere is not here anymore and she's never allowed to return. He'll never get to see his grandchildren should Guinevere has any. _Lancelot thought with a small grimace.

When they arrived in the almost completed courtyard, where a few of Galahad's trainees were still practicing, Merlin banged a nearby bell, and spoke loudly when everyone stopped to pay attention, "ATTENTION! ATTENTION! The King and Queen have an announcement to make to the Kingdom!"

Very quickly the large group of people were dropping their work and turning to their new leaders. Lancelot placed a reassuring hand on Arthur's back and gave it a squeeze. Arthur's once tense back relaxed and he began, "My fellow Britons, as you all know, my name is Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot and of the Briton Isles. As my first time speaking before you, it is my pleasure to tell you all now that our fair city is almost complete! All the effort that you have put into this…"

Lancelot really wanted to pay attention to his friend's first speech-really he did. But the news his wife just gave him made all other brain functions stop. _I'm going to be a father! **ME!** I can't believe it! Why would the Gods bless me with such a beautiful wife and then bless me with a child? I don't deserve it…do I?'_

Before he could continue, Gawain elbowed him and he came back to when Arthur said joyously, "And now, my wife and Lady, Queen Cordelia of Camelot and of the Briton Isles has an announcement of her own to make!"

Lancelot grinned and waited.

Cordelia took a deep breath and said loudly, "As of today, one month exactly after my marriage and consummation with our King, I am proud to say that in eight months time, near the time of Samhain, I shall give birth to our kingdom's newest heir!"

Instantaneously, hundreds of people burst into cheers and applause. It took Arthur, Merlin, Merkin, **and** Duncan more than thirty minutes to calm the people down enough for Arthur to continue, "And now, we have still yet more joyous news to tell you all. My Lady, Lady Emogen Serenity of the House of Lyon, the floor is yours!"

Emogen smiled and with Lancelot beside her took a step forward and said clearly and with happiness clouding her voice, "I too, am with child! In nine months, the House of Lyon will have an Heir as well!"

_After that, _reminisced Lancelot with a grin _no matter what we did, we couldn't get the populace to calm down. Even a month later, they have yet to stop celebrating. But, that is partly because Tristan and Ula got married not two weeks ago (**April 5**) and Ula has just found out, she too, is pregnant. As for their child, it will be born come the New Year. Tristran is ecstatic! He is showing more emotion now, than I have ever seen in him-Ula is good for him. _

Then his thoughts took a turn for the worst, _And then there is that group that will be here in an hour. They carry the flag of peace-at least that's what Tristan's people say and they've yet to be wrong, but what do they want? Especially, since they are Saxon?_

There was a knock on his and Emogen's chamber doors. He bellowed for whomever it was to come in and raised an eyebrow when his friend and King walked up to him, at his private desk, and said, "Lancelot, are you coming?"

"Go where Arthur? I have an hour you know."

Arthur raised an amused eyebrow and said, "Do you?"

Lancelot stared at his friend's twinkling green eyes and then stared at his sundial. His eyes widened in shock! He had been sitting at his desk for far longer than he thought.

"Bloody hell! I have ten minutes to dress and get to the Round Table!" he yelped and became a blur of motion that made Arthur smile fondly at him. Lancelot, when he and Arthur were walking towards the Round Table, had to smile fondly too though. That episode reminded him of when they were younger and he had been late to a meeting with a Roman Commander that was visiting. He had barely gotten there in time and narrowly escaped a punishment. Arthur helped there too though-if he was honest. _But at least this time_, he thought, _I won't get in trouble for being late. I'm practically the King and it doesn't matter if I'm late or not! _

As they entered the Round Table Meeting Hall, they saw everyone was there-even the representative from the Saxons.

Lancelot flushed slightly and said evenly and gently, "I apologize for my lateness and for making you wait. I lost track of the time, My Lady. I am Lord Lancelot Shieldguard of the House of Lyon and the Knight Commander here of Camelot and the King's Protectorate. Beside me is King Arthur Pendragon of the House of Camelot and the Briton Isles. What is your reason for seeking and audience with King Arthur?"

He glanced to Arthur from the corner of his eyes and saw gratitude in his friend's eyes. He had actually fallen into his role from their time under Rome's power when they were still enlisted in the Roman Army. When visiting dignitaries sought an audience with Arthur, they had to go through Lancelot first. It was an unconscious habit and he was glad that Arthur still approved of him doing so for him.

The brilliant red-hared woman seemed to grow taller, despite the fact that was he standing three steps above her from the main floor, and said, "I have come to offer an agreement to you King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table. My father, Cerdic, and my brother, Cynric, were horrible people and unfortunately you met them first and not me. I am Cynwise, daughter of Cerdic, and I do **NOT** or rather, I **DID NOT** agree with any of his policies when it related to any people not of Saxon descent. In all fact, Your Majesty, the Saxons were a split people with a third of our people following my father, a third following my brother, and in proxy, my father, and the third group followed me. I understand the need for war, but I do not think it wise to attack other people. Unfortunately, we had recently fought a hard battle with a group of people to the far north, Vikings, and we, sad to say, lost terribly. The Vikings took control of our land and pushed us to find another land or die out. Briton just happened to be the unfortunate victim to my father's rage. All I ask is that you let us live here in peace with you and your people. My people will not harm anyone here…I promise."

Lancelot looked to his wife, his Queen, and his King. All three looked indecisive and he understood perfectly. Before he could open his mouth, Emogen stood up, from her place on Cordelia's left, and said bluntly but politely, "We thank you for your truthfulness, Lady Cynwise, daughter of Cerdic. If you would be so kind as to let Lord Dagonet escort you to our Main Hall we will deliberate on what we should do. Please remember that our first impression of your people, the Saxons, is not a good one and we have our people to think of. Their impressions of your people are even darker than our own…we must first think of them."

Lancelot and Cordelia bit their lips and looked at Arthur. His face betrayed nothing, but his eyes showed his shock. Even at her most temperamental, Emogen was never this…blunt about her thoughts. Even Lady Cynwise looked shocked.

Cordelia cleared her throat and said softly but apologetically, "If you would please forgive my cousin, Lady Emogen, Lady Cynwise. You see, she is two months along in her pregnancy and the nausea has affected her more than normal women; and so her emotions have been affected earlier than we expected."

Emogen smiled weakly and said softly, "Forgive my blunt words, I meant no disrespect."

Lady Cynwise's face cleared up with these words and she said calmly, "Yes, all is forgiven. I remember the pain and the joy of motherhood. I shall allow Lord Dagonet to escort me to the Main Hall as you asked. Thank you for hearing me fairly Your Highnesses, My Lords and My Ladies."

Once the gentle giant and the daughter of Cerdic were behind the large oak doors that protected the outside world from hearing their words, Arthur turned to Emogen and raised and eyebrow.

Emogen blushed in embarrassment and said with a bowed head, "I am sorry, My King. While My Lady's excuse is correct, I still have control of most of my emotions, and I should have handled that better. Will you forgive me?"

Lancelot placed a hand on his wife's back and looked at his friend. Arthur would forgive her, or course, but she did need a reprimand.

Arthur nodded and said, "Yes, I do forgive you as I understand the situation as to why your emotions are so conflicted. Fortunately, Lady Cynwise also understands, so we can hopefully dodge a war. Now, for your punishment, you will not be able to deal with treaties alone without either myself, Queen Cordelia, Lord Lancelot, or Lord Tristran with you to make sure you are level headed during these important meetings. Understand?"

Emogen bit her lip, but nodded. Lancelot understood. For nearly half a decade, his wife had controlled how treaties and first contacts were dealt with, and now with Arthur's authority over her, she had to bow to him on some things she normally would have dismissed people for. It would be a bit of a challenge for her to remember her new limitations under the new government.

There was silence for a minute before Gawain asked, "So, what **ARE** we going to do with these…Saxons? Do we believe her story?"

Galahad snorted, crossed his arms, and asked, "It's a bit of a stretch to believe that **SAXONS**, of all races, have any shred of peaceful theologies. I say we make her leave with her people. How do we know that she won't just murder the towns near her and strike against us when we least expect it?"

Alma pointed out, "We thought that Sarmatians were a bloodthirsty lot that catered to Rome's very whim, and we were wrong. So, perhaps our views of the Saxons, in small groups, are wrong too?"

Galahad threw her a glare, and she replied in kind. Gawain and Enys rolled their eyes at their respective lovers and Gawain supported, "She's got a point Gal. I mean, we, too, thought that the Picts were a bloodthirsty lot that cared for nothing but battle. We were wrong too."

Enys nodded and said, "But are we wrong about the Saxons; that's the problem, isn't it?"

The royal court of Camelot grew silent as they all thought about the consequences of having the Saxons living on their soil.

Lady Fulucina bit her lip and looked at her soon-to-be-adopted brother, Bors. He felt her gaze upon him, and he raised his head and gave her a quizzical look. Fulucina blushed and bowed her head.

Bors' eyebrows rose as he said, "Everyone, I think that Lady Fulucina has an idea."

Arthur looked to her and said reassuringly, "Then by all means, please tell us Lady for I am at a quandary about what to do."

Fulucina sat up straighter and suggested softly, like she was unsure that her idea would be accepted, "What if, we give them a trial period. We can set up some conditions. If any of those conditions are broken, before the trial period is finished, we can force them to leave our shores?"

Lancelot shared a smile with Emogen. The idea was brilliant! He glanced at his queen and his king. Both members of the royal house were smiling at the once roman lady proudly.

Emogen said, "Cina, that is a wonderful idea! Perhaps you should join me in becoming an Ambassador?"

She had ended the line with a soft laugh, but Lancelot knew his wife meant it. Her job was hard. Sometimes even harder than his and Arthur's since she had to deal with the aftershocks of war, and any added help would do wonders for her stress level. _Which,_ he added to himself, _isn't good for the baby, according to Enys at least._

Tristran said, "Then what are our conditions? Plus, when will we announce to the people that they are living with a peaceful group of Saxons that have come to us for sanctuary?"

Dean spoke up, "I believe, one condition should be that they cannot use any weapons for six months. In the event that they are attacked first, then they can defend themselves, but other than that, they cannot wield weapons."

Seamus piped in, "Well, they can't use them for battle or training. Things like axes and hand knives can be used only around the home for things like preparing food and chopping wood."

Merlin looked up from his parchment, nodded and said, "Then how does this sound, **_'we, the court of King Arthur and Queen Cordelia, welcome the peaceful Saxons under the conditions stated below: That they cannot use any weapons for six months. If they are attacked first, then they can defend themselves. They can also wield axes and hand knives for household chores that require the use of such utensils'_**?"

Galahad nodded and said, "That's better, how about we also make sure that they check in every two weeks. If they do not on the required days, we will assume that they are out doing raids and go after the missing ones."

Enys cut in, "How about we reword that one: they'll have to check in every two weeks like Galahad said, but instead of chasing them down, we will check their families to find out where they are incase they are out and, lets say, something like a heavy storm prevents them from traveling very fast, we'll wait for them to return. If their families don't know where they are, **THEN** we'll chase them down."

Tristan added, "They'll have to stay within a certain amount of land, and if they are seen in other places not authorized to them, we will assume that they are off raiding a town and come after them."

Ula whacked him on the head and said, "We are trying to keep this peaceful, so we'll word it like this my husband, 'We'll give them a certain amount of land to live on and if they are seen off that land, we will search for the reason as to why they are off the lands. If the reason is a peaceful one, that must be truth, we will escort them back to their lands. If the reason if for malice, we will kill them or banish them immediately."

Arthur looked to his Second-n-Command and Ambassador and asked, "Do you have anything else to add to this treaty?"

Lancelot closed his and eyes and thought.

Emogen, on the other hand, answered straight out, "Yes, I think we should get all their names, all the weapons they are trained in, and what specialty skills they have-like smith crafting, weaving, carpentry, and so forth. That way, if something goes wrong, we'll have an idea on what to expect from them. In return, we will offer them a large piece of land to the north that has a few tribes scattered about and the freedom to do with it as they please. We will not lord over them, but we will watch them. When their trial period is done, and they have shown their belief in peace with us, they will be free to do as they please with a secure treaty with us that will allow for peaceful trade and prosperity."

Arthur looked to Lancelot. Lancelot grinned. He was a bit sheepish to realize that his wife got his own idea out before him, _but then again_, he thought with a smile, _she's used to making agreements like this._

Arthur nodded and said proudly, "I think this'll work. Merlin, do you have a working copy finished for us?"

Merlin looked at his king and said proudly, "We have three copies your majesty. Dukes Merkin, Duncan, and I have each written this treaty exactly the same way. Would you like to hear it?"

"Yes, please." Said Cordelia with a gently smile of command.

Merlin cleared his throat and began, "**_Upon the arrival of Beltane, we, the court of King Arthur Pendragon and Queen Cordelia of the House of Pendragon of Camelot of the Briton Isles, hereby declare these conditions for peace with the Saxons under the command of Lady Cynwise, daughter of the late Saxon-Lord, Cerdic. Welcome the peaceful Saxons under these conditions stated below: That they cannot use any weapons for six months. If they are attacked first, then they can defend themselves. They can also wield axes and hand knives for household chores that require the use of such utensils._**

**_The Saxons will have to check in every two weeks, and if they do not, we will check their families to find out where they are incase they are traveling. If, something like a heavy storm prevents them from traveling very fast, we will await their return with all fairness given to allies. If their families don't know where they are, THEN we'll chase them down and interview them severely. _**

**_We, the court of King Arthur and Queen Cordelia, will give the Saxons a certain amount of land to live on. If they are seen off that land, we will search for the reason as to why they are off these freely given lands. If the reason is a peaceful one, and that reason must be truth, we will escort them back to their lands (during those first six months). If the reason they have left their lands is for malice, we will kill them or banish them immediately. Lastly,_** **_we require all the names of the Saxons, all the weapons they are trained in, and what specialty skills they have-like smith crafting, weaving, carpentry, and so forth. The reason for this is if something goes wrong, we, the court of King Arthur and Queen Cordelia, will have an idea on what to expect from each Saxon that is missing. _**

_**In return, we offer you, the Saxons, a large piece of land to the north that has a few tribes scattered throughout and the freedom to do with it as they please-as long as they do not bother the tribes with malice intent. We will not lord over the Saxons, but we will watch the group as a whole. When the trial period is done, and the Saxons have shown their belief in peace with us, the Britons, they will be free to do as they please with a secure treaty with us, the Britons, which will allow for peaceful trade and prosperity for us all. **_

**_We, the court of King Arthur Pendragon and Queen Cordelia Dragonheart of Camelot of the Briton Isles, so swear to uphold our promise to be fair and just and allow the Saxons of Peace a chance to prove their worth to us, the Britons."_** ****

As Merlin finished, he looked up and said, "All it needs is the signatures of us all and the signatures of Lady Cynwise's council and our treaty is complete. What do you think?"

Cordelia smiled and said, "I think it is perfect. Lord Bors, please call Lord Dagonet and Lady Cynwise back into the Round Table Hall. Let us see if she will agree to this?"

Bors rose, bowed shortly, and left the room. The group didn't have to wait very long as Bors, returned very quickly with Dagonet and Cynwise a pace or two behind him.

As the leader of the Saxons walked up to the stairs that held the golden thrones of Briton, Arthur said, "We have come to a decision. We will allow you and your people to live here with us, but you must agree to a few conditions for a short time so our people and** we** will be assured of your honesty. We have the papers drawn up here. Do you wish to look it over now?"

Cynwise nodded and said, "I do."

Merlin left Arthur's side, behind Lancelot's silver throne, and handed Cynwise the parchment. She quickly read it over. Her face showed a series of emotions that Lancelot could easily read: shock, fear, a little anger, and then acceptance. She nodded.

As she looked up, she said, "While I don't agree with some of these, I do understand your reasoning. My father was a horrible man, and as such I am paying for his evil. I swear to you, I will not break this promise. Will you grant me a week or two to talk this over with my council? I shall return with this treaty and my council so we can sign it together. Hopefully, this will be the start of a new relationship."

Arthur stood up and said, "Yes, we have two other copies. That one is yours to do with as you please. We will eagerly await you and your councils return."

Cynwise nodded and left the Round Table Hall.


	3. Chapter 3

It's a bit early for odd food cravings but Cordelia and Ula are oddities okay? There isn't much of Emmy because she's earn a break and taking it, so Ula is going to be putting Tristran through his paces as husband in this chapter. Hope you like it!

The Sun and Moon of House Lyon 3

Lancelot sighed as he tiredly rubbed his calloused fingers across his eyes. It had been a long month and for the first time in a long time, he felt very tired and **OLD** which was something he didn't like-thank you very much! He was only twenty-eight! _But _he thought warily as he turned to face his wife of two months and smiled _it's been one hell of a busy month!_

And it had at that. Between the Saxons under Cynwise's command consenting to King Arthur's conditions, they now had over four hundred ex-enemies/semi-allies to deal with, and the people themselves-Lancelot was feeling a bit stretched. It didn't help that the Britons came to him nearly everyday with worries about the Saxons and their perceived assaults. Thank God that the Saxons were truly, in fact, peaceful and understood his plight when he and Tristran went to their settlement nearly five times in the past month alone! He shook his head and grimaced as a thought came to him, _Mam, would skin me alive if she heard me thanking Roman's God for anything! But, I've spent too much time with Arthur…I've come to know him as Arthur's God-not Rome's._

He grimaced again, shook his head, and said grumpily to himself, "I've definitely spent to much time with Arthur."

Then there was the fact that Gawain and Alma **and** Galahad and Enys were married not four days past and both men were gone for their two weeks of wedded bliss, so their positions were taken over by their underlings: Seamus and a new Pict named Rodric.

This caused a bit of a scramble in the court since Galahad was the trainer of the army and with him gone the other Knights had to take time away from **_THEIR_** jobs to sit in and train the army themselves. Plus, Gawain's second, Seamus, was a stubborn fool who made Tristran look like an innocent flower on a warm, spring filled, rose scented day. Lancelot's throat hurt from all the yelling he had to do when the trainees proved themselves to be very clumsy and uncoordinated.

He smiled wryly to himself and said softly, "I apparently can't teach the women when they are to busy trying to flaunt their assets in my face."

Emogen moaned a bit and rolled over into the angles of his body. She sighed and smiled as his fingers ran through her hair softly. He smiled. She was the best thing to ever happen to him and she was giving him an even greater gift-a child. When she had calmed down again, his thoughts returned to the trainees. _Even though there were only ten women, they seemed to increase in number throughout that first week. I thought I was going out of my mind! I even had to pull Arthur away from his audience with the Scots to see if he saw the same things I did! Luckily for me, he did! And I was right! Women, who were supposed to be working in the city-proper, were gallivanting through training trying to earn my looks of approval…I don't understand it. I know I'm handsome, but I'm married! I wish they'd leave me alone! **WOAH**….now there's a line I **NEVER** thought I'd say or think. _

He smiled and looked at his wife again. She had changed so much of his outlook on life. He owed everything to her. As he continued to stare at his maiden, she turned to lie on her back, and the fur blankets that covered her lithe body fell to her hips exposing his second greatest joy.

Lancelot's smile grew into a large grin that threatened to split his face as he placed his large hand on Emmy's stomach. There was a tiny bulge there that proved without a doubt that he was going to be a father in seven long yet short months.

Then he frowned slightly, _the girls seemed a bit worried the last time they checked Emmy. I wonder what is wrong. Emmy hasn't mentioned anything, but…I do wonder. Plus, if Cordy and Emmy are both two months along, why is Emmy's stomach bigger than Cordy's? Is something wrong? No, no, Emmy would have told me if that was the case. I'll just have to be patient and let her tell me when she's ready too._

As he gently rolled out of his and Emogen's goose filled bed, a knock sounded at his large oak door. He winced and looked back at his wife. She groaned and rolled over until her face was facing away from the window and into their darken chambers. He heaved a sigh of relief and opened the door. He blinked at Tristran's abnormal face.

He blinked again and rubbed his eyes. _Yep, he's still smiling at me goofy-like. **WHAT THE HELL**?_

"Ah, is there something you needed Tristran?" he asked cautiously.

Tristran's normally bland face sprouted into a full-grown smile that could put his to shame and said cheerfully, "Ula vomited her dinner this morning! She's truly pregnant!"

Lancelot raised an eyebrow at him and asked snarkly, "You didn't believe her when she told nearly a month ago?"

Tristran's eyes, which he now saw were slightly glazed, said cheerfully, "But now, with her having those morning problems like Cordelia and Emogen, we know for sure! I'm going to be a daddy!"

Tristran smiled again and said as Lancelot caught him, "I'm gonna be sick."

Lancelot's lips screwed up and he said distastefully, "Not on me you aren't!"

He dropped his friend and watched with a satisfied smile as the scout's body made a thud sound on the stone floor. _Oh is he going to be in pain when he wakes up._ Thought Lancelot with an evil smile as he finished, _and I'll be the one to tease him for this…un-Tristran-like behavior. _

Lancelot chuckled and was surprised when Emogen said sleepily, "Is it time to wake up already?"

Lancelot winced and said, "You don't have to Emmy, I'm sorry I woke you. Tristran was just here to tell me the good news."

Emogen sat up, rubbed her eyes, and asked with a raised eyebrow, "What good news?"

Lancelot smiled humorlessly and said dryly, "Ula's pregnant."

Emogen blinked and said after she yawned, "I'm not goin' to ask."

Lancelot looked at her and nibbled on his bottom lip. It was one of the ways a person could tell if he was nervous. And wouldn't you know it, Emogen and Arthur both knew the signs. He could never hide a thing from either of them, and this time was no different. He heard Emogen sigh and felt, rather than saw her arms come around him and heard her ask, "What is it? What's bothering you, my savior?"

Lancelot's eyes opened, he wrapped her up in his arms, and asked softly like he was afraid of hurting her, "Emmy, what's wrong with the baby? You and the others were nervous or worried about it during the last check up."

He watched his curly hared wife blink at him and asked his, "That's what you were wanting to ask me?"

He nodded. He saw how her eyes softened when she realized just how important this was to him, and he felt relief wash through him as she answered, "Nothing is wrong. It's just that, either I'm gaining a lot of weight from this child or it is a very big boy I'm carrying."

Lancelot burst out in relief and said happily, "Is that all?"

Emogen laughed softly and nodded as he nuzzled his nose into her neck and said, "Emmy, go back to bed. You could use the rest and since there are no First Contacts, you **CAN** take off. I don't want anything to harm you or our child."

She pouted at him and asked with wide gleaming eyes, "Won't you come to bed too?"

He groaned but replied, "I wish I could. Unlike you, I have some work to get too. Besides," he added with a devilish smile, "Tristran's still unconscious in our hall. I have to deliver him to Ula and watch her take **_GOOD_** care of him."

He smiled slightly when his wife flinched at the mention of her friend's care taking of a drunken Tristran. The last time that had happened, Tristran woke up to find himself surrounded by three naked Picts-not to bad mind you except-he had wound up in bed with three Pict MALES! That was only a month ago, and now their scout friend put himself into an even worst predicament. Lancelot smiled brightly-he couldn't wait!

Emogen yawned again, gave him a sweet kiss that made him wish he wasn't so honorable, and snuggled back under the covers. Lancelot smiled at her gently, and with a sigh opened their door. _Yep, still there._

He shook his head and said as he picked up his friend, "Tris, you're in for a hell of a time."

When they arrived at Tristran and Ula's chambers, he winced at the sound of something breaking. He looked at his tattooed friend and ended seriously but with a twinkle in his eyes, "And I'm not entirely sure whether or not to wish you luck or laugh at your eminent demise."

Then the large oak door opened and Lancelot came face to face with the dirty blond hared brown-eyed wife of his friend. She scowled at her husband and said darkly, "Put him on the bed Lancelot."

Lancelot gulped and thought to himself as he quickly obeyed the one-month pregnant woman, _Good luck old friend! I'm out of here!_

Unfortunately, before he could make it back out the door, Ula's deep throaty voice called, "Oh Lancelot!"

He bit his lip and asked in a slightly higher tone of voice than he wanted, "Yes, Ula?"

As the Lady of House Palðer (Panther) sauntered up to him, she said, "Do you want to help me teach my wayward husband the penalty for drinking himself into a drunken stupor?"

Lancelot raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you have in mind?"

Ula's smile turned decidedly evil as she revealed to the Knight Commander what her secret plan was.

He was only too happy to agree!

When he finally made it to the Round Table Hall, he found Dagonet, Lady Fulucina soon to join the House of Beran (Bear), Bors, and Vanora sitting there with Arthur and Cordelia eating breakfast.

Arthur raised an eyebrow at him and Bors burst out, "Where hav' ya been Lance?"

Lancelot grinned and said cheerfully, "I was putting Tris back to bed."

Dagonet looked at him and said slowly, "But Tristran is never abed at this time of day. He wakes long before even I."

Lancelot took his seat next to Arthur and said with a shrug, "He's a bit under the table, you know."

Cordelia raised and eyebrow and said, "I find that hard to believe. Tristran is so…so in control."

Bors burst out laughing as he said, "Not when he lets go and drinks! He's just as loud as Galahad is!"

Dagonet and Arthur's eyes widened at that as Bors' laughs dried up and his eyes popped wide open. They spun to look at their Knight Commander and Dagonet said, "I feel sorry for him when he wakes up."

Lancelot burst out laughing and said, "You won't when you find out what Ula has in store for him!"

Vanora leaned towards him and asked eager, "So you know what she's going to do?"

Lancelot snorted into his mead and said superiorly, "Know, I'm a part of it! But, I promised to not reveal anything until the big moment."

Arthur raised his goblet into the air and said somberly, "May God have pity on our scout's, Tristran's, soul when Ula's punishment is wetted out."

Lancelot looked into his friend's eyes and grinned into his cup-Arthur was desperately trying not to laugh. When their eyes met, both he and Arthur burst into joyous laughter. Dagonet, Bors, Fulucina-even though it was still a bit subdued-and Vanora quickly joined in.

When their laughter calmed down, Cordelia asked, "When will it occur?"

Lancelot grinned and said, "In about two hours. Ula's put him under with a potion and when I'm done here, I'm to go to the tanners (clothing makers) and asked for specific clothing articles."

Fulucina nodded and said with a small smile, "I can't wait."

Lancelot winked at her and quickly ate all the fruits and bread that had been placed on his plate by a female helper-he didn't remember her name-and said as he jumped to his feet, "Well, I'm off!"

With that he rushed out of the Hall as fast as he had entered it.

Cordelia shook her head and said, "He's quite fast. Doesn't he ever slow down at all?"

Arthur took his wife's hand into his and said seriously, "I don't think that in all the sixteen years that I've known Lance, I can honestly say I remember a time when he **WASN'T** on the move. Even when he was wounded or sick, he was always doing something to keep busy."

When Cordelia turned to Vanora, Dagonet, and Bors in disbelief, they nodded in agreement. Cordelia and Fulucina just shook their head in awe.

Then, as Cordelia looked at the bread on her plate, her face took a greenish tint, and she said, "Excuse me!"

She jumped to her feet and ran towards the wastebasket by the kitchens, and heaved up what she had just eaten. Arthur was quickly by her side as he pulled her hair away and asked, "Are you alright?"

She sighed, turned to her husband, and said, "Yes, I'm fine. In fact," she added cheerfully, "I have a craving for some sea fish and corn mesh."

Arthur's own pallor turned a bit greenish as he asked, "Sea fish and corn mesh? Are you sure?"

Cordelia nodded eagerly as Arthur sighed and said as they got to their feet, "If that's your wish, so it shall be."

The women just laughed at the men's sickly faces.

Lancelot was whistling happily as he entered one of the tanners huts and called out, "Are you here Tanner?"

Lancelot spun around in shock as a pretty young woman emerged from the back of the hut and said huskily, "I am here My Lord Lancelot, what is your will? For anything you ask of me, you shall have."

Lancelot smiled politely, ignored the not so subtle hint, and said as he handed her a list on clothing, "I need these articles of clothing in thirty minutes. Do you have any female articles in this size?"

The woman only pouted slightly at him, took the parchment from him, and said as she read it, "Yes, I have them all. It'll cost you four gold Romii, but if you want it for free you are going to have to **_do_** something for **_me_**."

Lancelot just smiled and said, "I'll pay the gold Romii, thank you."

The woman frowned, spun around, and marched into the back where he could hear her scrounging around for the clothes that Ula wanted. He shook his head. What some women would do-even on his most randy of days-he wasn't that bad! Quickly enough, he had the clothes, and found himself back in Tristran and Ula's chambers.

"Okay, I have them, are we actually daring to do this?" he asked Tristran's wife.

She smiled evilly and said, "Oh yeah…"

Tristran was in pain. That in itself wasn't a weird or odd occurrence since he was a Knight and a warrior and both tended to get hurt a lot in the line of duty. Unfortunately, this kind of pain was something he had rarely, if ever, felt. He had a monstrous hangover. He blinked and quickly opened his eyes. He just as quickly closed them as the sunlight slammed into his poor abused eyes. He heard snickering sounds coming from below him and for a minute, wondered why he felt off-like his entire world was upside down.

"Oh Tristran! I had no idea you were so…pretty!" cried Lancelot.

Tristran slowly opened his eyes this time and gulped. He was hanging upside down! Plus, his eyes widened in slightly horror, Ula was there too and she looked evil and happy at the same time.

Bors shouted gleefully, "Isn't nit a bit drafty there Tristran?"

Tristran blinked and bleary eyed turned to the large Knight. But them he frowned. Bors was right and Lancelot was laughing at him again, which caused him to frown and growl lightly at him.

Lancelot swallowed some of the laughter, and said cheerfully, "You know, that normally would work, but I just can't find myself to be scared of your growl when you are dressed like that my friend!"

With that, Lancelot, Arthur, Cordelia, Vanora, Bors, Dagonet, Fulucina, Alec, and Gilly burst out laughing. Tristran frowned. He hadn't even realized that the others were there-that was bad. Then what Lancelot said pierced his brain, "…_your growl when you are dressed like that my friend!_"

He twisted his body and looked at his clothes. His eyes widened in horror.

He spun around and glared at Lancelot. The Knight Commander raised his hands in surrender and said, "It was all Ula's idea! Honest!"

Tristran's face paled as his wife entered his line of vision again. She was frowning and tapping her foot against that stone floor. Tristran closed his eyes and waited for the yelling to start…………nothing….not good!

He opened his eyes when Ula cried out, "All ye girls who wish ta see, Tristran dressed up as a Lady of King Arthur's court, come to me at once! It's free of charge and you'll even get to hit him once without fear of retaliation!"

As the group of women grew, Arthur took pity on him and answered the one question Tristran really wanted answered, "This is your punishment for getting drunk my friend…perhaps it's best that you learn from this, yes?"

Tristran glowered at Lancelot as he also glowered at the frilly lavender dress, under shift, and shoes that he was currently wearing at the same time whilst he was hanging upside down by a tree covered in make up that the women liked to wear from time to time.


	4. Chapter 4

This chapter will jump through one month! Not a lot of Emmy and Lancelot, but the scenes with them are cute. This deals with Fulucina's adoption and the last weddings!

The Sun and Moon of House Lyon 4

Lancelot let out a loud groan as he rolled away from Tristran's expert swing. His scouting friend had not been pleased when he had found out that he had, had a part in his wife's joke on him. _In fact,_ Lancelot thought ruefully, _I'm definitely paying for it now._ Lancelot rolled to his feet, and eyed his friend warily as he twisted his double blades and started to circle the tattooed man. Lancelot decided then and there _I'M **NEVER** JOINING IN ON ANOTHER PRANK FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE! _As they battled, he smirked and amended quickly, _at least where Tristran's concerned…I don't think I could take the retribution! Woah!_ Lancelot quickly ducked under a sneaky swipe from Tristran's curved bladed and glared at the scout as his friend's eyes twinkled. Lancelot smirked and thought _Well, well, the old bugger's enjoying this…so am I if I'm truthful since Arthur **IS** the only person capable of fighting me long enough to help me improve my skills. Plus, Tristran is Arthur's sparring buddy when I'm not around, so he's just as good as me but…**THERE!** _

Careful to keep his face blank, Lancelot met Tristran's swing with his left sword and quickly spun into his defense and placed his right sword at Tristran's neck. Tristran's gray eyed met his for a few seconds and the scout nodded. Lancelot watched as Tristran lowered his sword, and with a sigh lowered his as well. He blinked. _Is that cheering?_

The two spun around and both felt blushes rise in their cheeks. Lancelot was never so very grateful for his Sarmatian heritage as he was at that point in time. Because he was born of the Sarmatian heritage, his skin tone was darker than the pale tones of those native to Briton. His blush could not be easily seen. He glanced at Tristran in envy. Tristran's skin tone was even darker than his own, but he smirked. Tristran was blushing as well!

Lancelot came back to himself when shrill voices of angels cried out, **"LANCELOT! TRISTRAN!"**

Both winced and Lancelot asked as he rubbed the back of his head, "Isn't Ula a little, ah, over sensitive? I mean, she has just reached her first month, surely she isn't changed so much?"

Lancelot couldn't help but chuckle when Tristran's dark skin tone, which he had been envying short seconds ago, paled very quickly.

Tristran's gray eyed met his and he said, "Enys, once told me, before we married, that Ula has always been extra sensitive to the things, to the emotions, of others and because of that, she's has what Merlin calls an 'Over-Flow of Emotions' from the inside and outside. With her being pregnant, well……"

Lancelot grinned pityingly and said, "It's going to be a **LONG** nine months."

The two men turned to look at the castle; it was quite beautiful. It was made from a white stone they found on an island near Briton. The natives call it _'Immortal Purity'_ and its name was actually a true representation of the rock itself. The rock looked like the white marble of Rome, but the court tended to ignore that aspect of it, and tended to only see the pure beauty of the rock and the pure Briton architecture. Rocks from the same area slated the ceiling and the clashing of the two colors was amazing-not bad amazing mind you-! Queen Cordelia wanted to decorate the outside of the castle with reds of dark blues, but Arthur was not too sure. The Knights stayed far out of **THAT** argument since they have their own wives to argue with now. The castle of Camelot belonged to Arthur and Cordelia; how they decorated it was up to them!

Lancelot turned to his friend and said, "We'd better get up there and see what our wives want. Otherwise, we'll find ourselves sleeping in the Sitting Chambers yet again."

Tristran winced slightly at that and the two hurried to get to their wives as quickly as possible.

As Lancelot entered the chambers he shared with his wife, he had to duck as a clay bowl flew at his head and crashed against the rock walls.

Lancelot glanced at his wife of three months and asked softly, "Is everything all right Emmy?"

His three-month pregnant wife, Lady Emogen Serenity of the House of Lyon, Lady Ambassador or Peace, was definitely not happy. When he woke up earlier today, she had been in their washroom, throwing up last night's dinner and was feverish. Enys had assured him, before she left, that this was likely to happen, but it hadn't quite connected with this thoughts until he found her there.

"Where have you been Lancelot?" she demanded.

He saw her eyes were red and immediately felt guilty. When he had pulled her back to bed, he had left to train with Bors and Dagonet, and told her this, but instead got rounded up by Tristran and ended up in a completely different part of the castle's training grounds.

He walked up to her and held her close. As he smelt her gorgeous raven black curly hair, he answered, "I'm sorry my love, I was with Tristran and not Bors and Dag. He wanted to pay me back for my part in his humiliation a few weeks ago. Please don't be upset."

Lancelot felt Emogen looked at him and raised his head so she could see into his eyes. In the past, he would have kept such emotions kept locked tight under lock and key, but for her, he'd show her anything in his heart-if she wanted it. He saw her smiled softly and placed her head on his chest with a sigh of relief.

He held her close and said as he placed his hand on her swelling stomach, "You don't have to worry so much, it's not good for our son."

Emogen grimaced. He knew she loved being pregnant, but hated all the weight their son was making her carry. He also knew, thanks to Cordelia, that she was worried he'd start to think of her as unattractive and start to wander. That would never happen! He loved her. He didn't love her for her body; he loved her for her spirit. He would love her when she was old, wrinkly, and gray. Plus, he'd love her when she was dead and into the next life. So, he'd definitely love her when she was carrying his first-born son!

Emogen sighed again and said, "I received word from Cordy today at breakfast that Gawain and Alma and Galahad and Enys will be returning within the week, and Alec told me that we are to expect another happy tidings during the _'Welcome Home!'_ party."

Lancelot raised an eyebrow at that.

Emogen shrugged and said, "I don't know either, but even since Fulucina had been adopted into the House of Beran, he's been up to something. Plus, as the heir to the House of Hors, he's been up and about doing all sorts of errands for Dagonet and Bors too. Lucus follows along too, it's so cute!"

Lancelot rolled his eyes at that. _Typical, she gushes over Lucus' growing adoration of Alec._

Lancelot looked at his sundial and said regretfully, "I'm sorry, my love, but I'm needed with Arthur. We have a meeting scheduled most of the day with the other Knights. Why don't you, Cordy, and Ula get started on readying the Great Hall for Gawain and the other's arrival?"

Emogen's emerald eyes widened in happiness as she thought of all the decorating that needed done. She kissed him fully on the lips and rushed out of their rooms as fast as her body would allow her too. Lancelot sighed and wiped beads of sweat away from his forehead. _Another mess dodged!_

As he walked to the Round Table Hall, he thought about Fulucina's adoption into Bors' house. Fulucina wasn't bonded to the house through blood but by name. She was adopted as Bors', second cousin on his dead mother's side. How that was figured in, he wasn't sure. He also didn't want to picture the family tree since just picturing it gave him a headache. Actually, thinking about it, might cause his head to burst! So, technically, since she wasn't blood bonded into Bors' family, Fulucina wasn't going to be marrying her own new cousin, Dagonet. Lancelot shook his head as he remembered that spectacle that occurred, just days after Gawain and Galahad and their new wives left Camelot.

_Lancelot, Arthur, Tristran, Merlin, Merkin, and his father-n-law, Duncan, were all waiting patiently at the Stone Circle for Bors, his children, Fulucina, Alec, Lucus, and Dagonet. They were supposed to be officiating the ceremony to adopt the once Roman woman into Bors house, but they were late! Lancelot glanced up at the sky. Almost thirty minutes had past, and they had yet to arrive. Lancelot bit his lip and looked at Arthur. His friend looked a bit peeved. _

_He sighed softly and said, "I'll go and see what is keeping them all, okay Arthur?"_

_His King nodded and Lancelot quickly mounted his horse and galloped **OUT** of the Circle of Stones. _

Lancelot smirked as he entered the Hall. He started to laugh as he remembered just W**HY** they were late…

As Lancelot arrived back in their camp, he dismounted and looked around. No one was there. He grew worried and pulled out one of his swords. Just as he was about to yell for them, he heard laughing and Bors' loud shouts of dismay. He ran to the sound, and stopped before a dense brush. He squatted down and peered through the leaves. He nearly burst out laughing then and there!

_Fulucina, Vanora, Cordelia, and Emogen, had Bors and all the children-Alec and Gilly included all dressed up in fancy bright colorful Roman Senate togas! Bors was griping loudly as he pulled at the cloth._

_Fulucina scolded him as if he were but a child and proceeded to straighten the cloth out again and said, "This is the only way for Arthur and I to legally dismiss my Roman heritage, Bors. If you didn't want me to be your cousin, you should not have offered to become my cousin!"_

_Bors pouted, crossed his arms, and said, "I did't know **THEN** that I'd be wearing this…this…this dress! How do ya gals' wear this stuff? It's awful drafty."_

_Lancelot saw Vanora rolled her eyes, whacked him on the head, and said, "We be used ta it and this actually, makes ya look-like someone! Be proud of ya cousin!"_

_Vanora smiled slyly and added softly to Fulucina, but he was close enough to the group to hear, "Plus, it be easier to get him outta his clothes later ta'night!"_

_The two older women giggled like young women in love and Lancelot shook his head in wonder. It was amazing. _

_He took a step back, cleared his throat, and called back to them, "Ah, are you all here! We **ARE** still waiting for you!"_

_Lancelot heard Cordelia shout back, "We're finished here Lancelot! Here comes Bors!"_

_Lancelot grinned as he heard Bors protesting all the way to him. When his older friend was in front of him, Lancelot whistled and said, "Wow, now that's a sight I never thought I'd see…Bors in a toga…very opinionated there Bors."_

_Bors glared at him and his glare promised a slow torturous death. He just smirked back. After him came the children and the women. He smiled at his wife and said as she came to him to claim a kiss, "You look beautiful my maiden."_

_Cordelia rolled her eyes and said as she wrapped her arm through both of theirs, "Come on already, I thought we were late!"_

_As the children and the women piled into the wagon that was to carry them to the Stone Circle, Lancelot once again mounted his horse. He watched with barely concealed laughter as Bors attempted to do the same. _

_He watched as Bors, foot went into the stirrup, his weight shifted to hop on, and then instead of him gracefully swinging his amazing weight over the horses back, his other foot got caught in the toga's curtain of cloth! The over balance caused Bors to lose his footing in the stirrup and cause him to fall over. _

_Lancelot burst out laughing then and there. He wasn't even trying to be polite now. Bors looked ridiculous! He was covered in Roman pure white togas-which weren't so white right now-in fact it was covered in green grass, mud, and HORSE DUNG! _

Lancelot shook the memory away when Arthur's voice broke through his musings, "Lancelot, what has your attention so? You are laughing like a jackal."

Lancelot grinned at his friends and eyed Bors as he answered, "I'm just thinking about Bors foray in Roman togas."

Bors glared at him and roared as the others laughed hysterically, "You promised to **NE'ER** speak of that again!"

When the men gathered themselves back together, Arthur said, "Now, now let's have peace gentleman! We are here, to discuss the castle, city, and surrounding land's progress. Lancelot, you are to report first."

Lancelot stood straight and announced, "My King, I will first start with the out laying lands where our new friends the Saxons, have taken residence. As per our agreement, they are living peacefully with the scattered tribes established there. We have an elaborate listing of their holdings, weapons, and the names of them, their parents, and even their parents' parents! The people have complained a couple of times, but as you know, they have been reassured and it has been nearly a week and a half since the last complaint. I am hopeful that, that last one will be the last we hear from the people in a long time in relation to the Saxons. Next, the city has entered into the last phase of the building process. All the shops, homes, offices, and taverns have been built and resources have been processed and accounted for through Lord Dagonet's office and the Department of Agriculture established by the Pict named Aland. He has an extensive listing of all our farmers and ranchers, My King. The Army is growing at an astonishing rate, and we've had to stop recruiting because we simply cannot deal with so many new trainees at once. We have the city gates guarded by two guards outside the city gates and two on the immediately once you enter the gates. Also, the wall has two four men on duty for every one hundred yards (that's four men for every three hundred feet). They are the lightest shift."

At Arthur's concerned face, he elaborated, "The best way I can explain this device, My King, is to say that they are the scouts. When they spot trouble, they light signal fires mounted on the turrets on the wall, that alert the ground soldiers. Also, the battle barracks, you commissioned are finished, and we have housed over four hundred soldiers so far. That number is still rising and we've since had to start building more barracks **OUTSIDE** the wall for added protection. Our once Pict soldiers, have claimed this right for themselves since they know the forests like the back of their hands, sire."

Lancelot, inside his head, was rolling his eyes. These meeting were boring and tiresome, but they were needed. He had finished his accounting of his sphere of influence and Gawain and Galahad's since they were still gone. He couldn't wait to relinquish control back to them when they arrived!

THREE WEEKS LATER---June 10th!

Lancelot held his head high as he stared at his friends, Bors and Dagonet. They were the oldest and **LAST** ones to marry. He glanced at Arthur and the two of them smirked. Lancelot knew that his oldest friend was thinking of the exact same thing he was…Bors' attempt at proposing and Gawain and Galahad's reactions to their wives good news!

_He had just handed control of the Army back to Gawain and the responsibility of teacher back to Galahad when Emogen, Cordelia, Ula, Vanora, and Fulucina pushed through them and latched on to the new sister-n-laws._

_"Come! You must tell us this good news!" exclaimed Cordelia with bright sapphire eyes. Even he had to admit, his wife's cousin, Cordelia, was a beautiful woman, especially with the light of child around her. Maybe he was biased, but Emogen looked even more beautiful. _

_Enys and Alma shared a mischievous look at their husbands, and chirped happily, "We're pregnant!"_

_Galahad's face paled drastically and Gawain swayed on his feet. Lancelot thought that they'd both faint like he did, but unfortunately, they didn't. Instead, their feet no longer held them firm on the ground, and the two brother found themselves face first in the mud-dazed. And yet, both wore silly faces when Tristran and himself pulled them out of the mud and onto their backs on the green grass._

Lancelot returned slightly to the present and glanced about. The girls weren't there yet, but by the look on Merlin's face, they were nearly ready. He really wanted to relive the brother's humiliation, so he skipped ahead to the day after they had returned…

_Loud knocking on his oak doors had just awakened him and he wasn't happy-damn it! It was his one-day sleep in day! Couldn't the servants go bother someone else? Grumbling, he walked over to the door and yanked it open. Just as he was about to yell at the person, he saw who it was-Alma and Enys-red faced and crying._

_He cringed but opened his arms and let the two new mothers-to-be cry on his shoulders. _

_When they had finished, he asked, "What's wrong? What did those two do now?"_

_"They left to celebrate last night, but they never came home! We've had the guards look for them most of the early morning, and they can't find them! What if…what if…" _

_Lancelot felt a cold dread fill his heart. If the All-Mighty Alma was worried, something must have happened to Gawain and Galahad-something that troubled the newly formed marriage vows._

_He woke his wife, and told her to keep the two company with Ula, Cordelia, and the other girls' help, and high tailed in out into Kameland City-Proper with Arthur, Tristran, Bors, and Dagonet close behind._

_They searched for nearly four hours, before they found the two brothers. Tristran found them. They were asleep, with goofy-grins on their faces, in a dark alleyway filled with the scents of ale and sex. Thankfully, they found no scent of the latter, only the former on them._

_As Arthur went to wake them, Tristran's eyes twinkled and said, "Let's inform Enys and Alma first. Perhaps, they will want to punish them."_

_The Knights gathered grinned. Of course! Tristran's wife, Ula, punished him for doing this before, and of course, Alma and Enys, Ula's best friends and co-conspirators of Tristran's first punishment, would have an equally funny punishment for their wayward husbands._

Lancelot turned back to Merlin and saw that he was readying the alter. The Hand-Maidens were almost ready! He had to hurry!

_When the two sister-n-laws were brought to their husbands resting place, identical looks of prankish-revenge appeared on their angelic faces. They quickly told the Knights their plans and the Knights howled with laughter. Fortunately, for them, they didn't waken the brothers of the House of Wolfe._

_The group quickly did as the new mothers bid them, and Dagonet went back to the castle and brought the other Ladies with him. They actually had to leave the castle to their underlings for the first time since the kingdom was established!_

_The group only had to wait another ten minutes. When they showed signs of waking up, Arthur, Cordelia, Lancelot, Emogen, Tristran, Ula, Bors, Vanora, Dagonet, Fulucina, Alec, Gilly, Lucus, and the children all ducked behind whatever they could find and watched as Enys and Alma cooed to their hung over husbands. _

_They all had to literally bit their lips to stop from laughing as that cooing turned into Hell's Fury! Alma and Enys yelled at them for a good-long time as the brothers held their poor ringing ears. _

_Then the Ladies of House Wolfe, grabbed their husbands by the ears and pulled them bodily into the blaring sunlight-a rarity for Briton this time of Day-and dragged them over to a wooden pole. There waiting for them was a pile of ropes. They hog-tied the brothers and left them there for three hours!_

Lancelot grinned fondly at the memory as the faces of Gawain and Galahad formed in front of him. They to were dressed for this wedding, but their faces still brunt the punishment of their wives. They were slightly pink in the face and their skin was peeling constantly. It was definitely a funny sight to behold.

As Bors' grunted, he turned to the two cousins standing before Merlin and said, "I still can't believe you proposed to Vanora the way you did Bors. Why in the Gods' name did you do it!"

Bors' pale face, flushed as the other Knights laughed at him and Dean gasped out, "Proposing to her whilst drunk and serenading to her whilst she was changing nappies (dippers) probably wasn't the most romantic thing you could have done Bors, you must admit that!"

Before Bors could be teased again, Merlin called the gathered people together and as one they all turned and watched as the Ladies of Camelot approached.

The ceremony was a blur to even him, and he watched proudly as Vanora of the House of Deore became Vanora Patient (because she'd had plenty-she waited long enough for Bors!) of the House of Beran-**FINALLY!-**and Fulucina of the House of Beran became Fulucina Lady of the House of Hors. Vanora had been given the title of Caretaker for the children with another woman, Sera of the House of Plethora-Enys' mother. Fulucina had been given the title of Head Chief and together with her queen, Cordelia, kept the castle running smoothly.

When the ceremony was finished, Merlin raised his hands into the air and exclaimed for all to hear, "The Bonds of our old peoples, the Sarmatians, the Britons, the Romans, and the Picts, have been completed! May the souls that guide us now, once them now all Britons, never be parted! This is my will, SO MOTE IT BE!"

As Lancelot pulled Emogen in for a kiss full of love he thought, _he's right. Arthur was Roman/Briton and Cordelia was Pict. They shed their pasts and became Briton. I was Sarmatian and Emmy was Pict. We shed our pasts and became Briton. Dagonet was Sarmatian and Fulucina was Roman. They shed their pasts and are now Briton too. Our bonds have been completed. All that matter to me are happy and whole and together forever. _


	5. Chapter 5

Only one scene with Emmy and Lancelot, but I get to make fun of Gawain a bit, a little serious topic, and I mess with Dagonet for a tiny bit!

The Sun and Moon of House Lyon 5

Lancelot and Arthur were walking side by side on the Battlement Wall that protected the outer rim of Kameland City-Proper of Camelot. The two friends were making a walk through of the finished battlements and outer kingdom defenses. Gawain, Dean, and Seamus were behind them a few feet-just enough to be out of hearing range when the two talked softly, but still close enough to come if they had questions about the defenses themselves.

Lancelot smirked as he cast a glance over his shoulder at Gawain.

Arthur saw his gaze, snorted, and said dryly, "Must you antagonize him, so?"

Lancelot grinned brightly at his best friend and said, "Of course I do! Alma tossed him on his arse for coddling her! Plus, he **KNOWS** she can take care of herself. She's one of our Kingdoms Ladies of Medicine for Gods sake! In any case, he just looks so pathetic it's funny!"

Arthur's lips tipped up as he said with a small laugh in his voice, "It was rather funny, wasn't it?"

Lancelot chuckled as he said, "Funny, it was hilarious!"

And it was, Lancelot remember the incident rather well since it occurred only two days before.

_Summer had officially came upon Camelot a week ago, and Lancelot, Knight Commander and King Protectorate of Camelot, was sitting in the castle's newly completed Library looking for his favorite book-which happened to be a biography Arthur introduced him to many years ago titled Alexander the Great: His Life. Not many people knew he liked books let alone that he knew how to read. It was a skill his father taught him, when he was old enough, because his father wanted him to have any advantage he could when the time came for him to be taken by Rome. His father was a smart man. _

_For when they were traveling, the Romans tried to have the future Knights sign their lives over to Roman for fifty years._

_(Lancelot, when he had seen the parchment, immediately took command and made himself the first person in line. _

_He looked the parchment over and told the Romans calmly, "No, I and these Knights will not sign this."_

_The Roman legionary snorted and said harshly, "Like you can read it barbarian! How do you know it doesn't list all the places in Briton that we will send you to?"_

_Lancelot stared him in the eye, glanced back to his fellow Knights, saw their confusion, picked the parchment back up, and read loudly and clearly, "**Those listed here, do so pledge by their life and blood, to promise their servitude to the Empire for fifty years (not including the fifteen they are bound too)."**_

_He looked up, saw the shock on the Romans, the fear and anger in his fellow Sarmatians, and said, "I know how to read, write, and speak Latin, Legion. My father made sure I could just in case something like this happened."_

_The Legion glared at him and demanded, "How did your father know how to read and write Latin, the holy language of Rome?"_

_Thirteen-year-old Lancelot, son of Babai and Ama, shrugged and said, "He learned from his commander. I don't know who since my father never talks about him- hurts to much." _

_The Roman had grumbled, "Must have been that blasted Castus…")_

_Lancelot shook the memory away, and again looked in the area the Book Keeper, a Briton Lady named Halfryta or the Peaceful Home, told him the book was shelved. He shook his head; it wasn't there._

_Just as he was about to turn around, he heard two very familiar voices. One as a voice he has known since his young adulthood-Gawain and the other he had recently became familiar with-Alma. It sounded like they were fighting about something. He frowned. Those two have fought before- true, but this one sounded quite bad. He edged closer to the two, and listened in. It never occurred to him that it was wrong to listen in; he was concerned._

_"Alma, please!" pleaded Gawain as he held his one month pregnant wife's hand._

_Lancelot shivered as Alma's normally cheerful brown eyes, glared fiercely at her husband. He had a passing thought **that must be how my eyes look when I'm angry. Talk about scary. No wonder people tend to stay far away from me when I'm in a mood. **_

_"Gawain, for the last time! I'm pregnant! I'm not an invalid! I don't need you to be at my beck and call all day long! I don't even have morning sickness yet! Go away!"_

_Lancelot smirked. **Oh is Gawain in for it.** He and Emogen and Arthur and Cordelia had already gone through this stage of pregnant life, and he thought Gawain was smart enough to listen to his and Arthur's mistake. He was wrong. Gawain was digging himself a very deep hole that would be nearly impossible to pull out from. He couldn't wait to see the fireworks!_

_"But Alma, you are carrying the babe we created together in your womb! I just don't want anything to happen to it!"_

_Alma's glare soften for a moment before it grew hard again and she said, "Gawain, I love you, but if you don't stop following me everywhere I go, I'm going to strangle you! Besides, don't you have some work to do with Seamus and Dean?"_

_Gawain waved her protest aside and said, "They can handle it. All we had planned for today was to do some drills to see how fast their reaction time is to a possible attack."_

_Alma said dourly, "And you aren't needed? Are you Master of War or not! **GO!**"_

_Lancelot sniggered at Gawain amazed face. The First Knight could read his lion-like friend easily and could tell that Gawain was having a hard time accepting the fact that his wife didn't need his help during this gentle portion of her life. _

_"What are we looking at?" whispered a warm voice and breath on his neck. Lancelot bit his lip and jumped in shock. He cursed, as he tasted blood on his lip. He hadn't heard anyone come up behind him at all! The only people who could do that were Tristran and Arthur!_

_He spun around and found Arthur's laughing green eyes staring into his own._

_He pouted, crossed his arms at the same time, and complained, "Don't **DO** that. You know I hate that!"_

_Then he grinned and replied, "Gawain's going to be sleeping in his and Alma's Sitting Room for a while…"_

_Arthur raised an eyebrow and leaned over his friend's shoulder to watch his Knight and his wife of one month._

_The red-hared, brown-eyed healer took a deep breath and said slowly like she was trying to reign in her temper, "Gawain, if you do not leave at once,** I'LL BLOODY CASTRATE YOU AND LEAVE YOU STARING AT IT IN THE SUN UNTIL YOU AND IT ARE ROSTING PIECES OF MEAT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"**_

_Gawain paled drastically, and Arthur and Lancelot burst out laughing as the lion-like warrior of Arthur, the senior Master of War of Camelot, himself, ran out of the Library like Cerberus, the three headed dog, was chasing after him to drag his immortal soul to the underworld._

Lancelot shook his head to clear away the memory and said, "Okay, back to business. The wall is thick enough for three men to walk abreast in full battle armor easily and it is fifty feet tall. We have four hundred men and women watching the wall, gates, and the forest in intervals of eight-hour shifts. What I want to see is the army arming themselves as quickly as possible. What about you Arthur?"

Arthur nodded and said, "Yes, that would be good. Master of War, Lord Gawain! Would you and the other Masters of War, Lord Dean and Lord Seamus come here?"

The lion-like Lord and his two lieutenants approached their superiors quickly and Gawain asked, "What is it Your Majesty?"

Arthur looked at Lancelot for a split second. Lancelot nodded unobserved, so Arthur continued, "Knight Commander Lord Lancelot and I would like to see how our soldiers react to an attack on our people. Can you procure this for us?"

Gawain winced slightly at that. Lancelot had to bite the inside of his mouth to prevent himself from laughing since he knew Gawain was remembering his wife's ultimatum. Arthur, Lancelot saw, was doing the same as him. The best part was-Gawain didn't know that they knew!

Just as quickly though, Gawain regained his bland warrior look and said evenly, "Yes, Your Majesty. Masters Seamus, Dean, and I had thought of this not to long ago and have created a plan just for this. If you'll let me pass, I'll give the signal of attack. Since the men do not know of this test, they will think it is a real attack and act accordingly."

Arthur nodded impressed and allowed Gawain to walk past them. Lancelot had to hand it to his friend, Gawain. He had certainly taken this job seriously and had thought of everything that he and Arthur wanted for their defenses.

Then the group heard a loud **GONG!**

Surprised Arthur and Lancelot jumped a bit in shock.

Dean leaned forward and said evenly, "That is the attack bell. It serves to alert the army of an attack and a warning for the people to get to the safety of the castle. Now, the men should be arming themselves up right now and the gates should be closing."

He stopped and turned to the east.

Seamus came up beside his friend and said as he pointed down, "There, the gates are closing."

Lancelot and Arthur hurried to the edge of the Wall and looked down. Sure enough, the guards on the outside of the wall, were readying themselves for battle as the Briton warriors inside the outside barracks roared out and formed three rows of fighters in front of the gates and two rows of fighters in between the gates. Each soldier had a sword, a dagger, and every other soldier had a heavy shield strapped to his or her backs ready for immediate use. Coincidentally, more men than women were wielding the shields.

Lancelot raised an eyebrow and turned to look behind him. The courtyard was quickly emptying of venders and civilian people as the rest of the army, only two hundred, filled it. He nodded impressed.

He looked at Arthur. His friend and King was nodding in contentment. He and Arthur shared a proud look and turned back to Gawain.

They smiled at their friend and Arthur said, "That is impressive Gawain. You should be proud of them. You, Dean, Seamus, and Galahad have worked very hard to get these soldier were they are today in such a short amount of time. I'm sure that they will protect our city honorably."

Gawain, Dean, and Seamus swelled in pride and Gawain answered, "We thank you My Lord. I shall pass your praising words to Lord Galahad as well. He'll be happy to hear them, I'm sure."

Lancelot nodded and said, "Yes, these men and women have our thanks and awe. They will be great defenders and an honor to command."

As the two turned to leave, Arthur turned back and said cheekily, "Oh Gawain, perhaps you should talk to Alma about your sleeping habits. You're looking a bit worn out."

Gawain groaned, "You know!"

Lancelot started to laugh as said, "Are you nuts! I don't think there is a person in all Kameland City-Proper who doesn't! Alma definitely has a set of lungs on her!"

Before Gawain could retort, a runner or a messenger, arrived and exclaimed, "My King! Lord Lancelot! Hurry back to the castle! Queen Cordelia and Lady Emogen are on a rampage looking for you!"

Both men paled to a sickly white and Gawain said smugly, "Perhaps you'd best be at a bit of a run, yes?"

They glared at the Master of War, but took his advice seriously.

Both turned on their heels and ran after the messenger.

As they entered the castle, Arthur veered off to the right and down a hallway lit with torches and had statues of dragons and carvings of the Pendragon Shield on the very walls themselves. As his friend went right, Lancelot headed left. His wife turned out to have a very large array of emotions. If he were lucky, he'd catch his wife on a high note.

He wasn't.

"LANCELOT SHIELDGUARD OF THE HOUSE OF LYON! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!"

Lancelot had to duck as his wife threw a rather large chair in his direction. For a brief, **extremely brief**, moment he marveled at the fact his petite wife of four almost five months could throw something so heavy so far. He was thrown from his thoughts as a hairbrush just grazed by his temple and jolted him back to awareness.

Very calmly, for if he was calm enough, he found he could get to his wife and calm her as well, he walked up to her and asked, "What is wrong My Maiden?"

Lancelot saw his wife's emerald green eyes well up with tears and she wailed, "I'm FAT!"

He blinked stupidly at her for a minute and said without thinking, "Yes, you are. You're pregnant."

_Just my luck! _He thought as he tried to quite his screaming wife _she only heard the FIRST part and not the rest!_

"EMMY! Please! You are NOT FAT! You are beautiful and gorgeous! I love you just as you are and I'd want to change nothing. Please, calm down. This isn't good for our son!"

As he mentioned their son, Emogen immediately calmed down and sagged in his muscled arms. Lancelot sighed in relief and held her close. He nuzzled her neck and placed butterfly kisses along the angle of her neck and shoulders. She moaned in approval.

He smiled and asked slowly because he was afraid to set her off again, "What's bothering you, My Maiden. Please tell me. The messenger was frantic with fright."

Emogen flushed profusely and said softly, "IsawhowmuchIwaseatingandcomparedittotheothersand realizedthatI'mapigandI'mfat!"

Lancelot blinked at her slowly as he tried to understand the long slew of words that all sounded the same because of her accent and mumbling.

"Ah, not to be an idiot or anything love, but could you repeat that please?"

Lancelot watched her blush deepen, take a deep breath, and said again, "I saw how much I was eating and compared it to the others and realized that I'm pig and I'm fat!"

Lancelot smiled largely and pulled her in for a deep warm kiss that left them both breathless.

As he gazed into her gorgeous emerald eyes and caressed her black curls, he said softly and lovingly, "No my maiden, you are not a pig nor are you fat. You are overflowing with life that is the combined life force of you and our son. Do not worry about how much you are eating, luv. You are after all eating for two."

He watched Emogen pout, cross her arms, and said, "Then how come Delia is still much smaller than I am?"

Lancelot chuckled and said, "You are the Healer, not I. You tell me why."

Emogen shook her head and said, "I cannot. I shouldn't be gaining so much weight from this babe. But, I shall carry it happily for our son and your heir."

Lancelot kissed her brow and said softly as their door opened and Dagonet walked in, "That's it my Maiden. Now, I'm guessing Dag is here to take you on your walk?"

Emogen smiled at her unofficial adopted brother, kissed him, her husband, once more, and said as she placed her hand in the giants elbow, "Yes, we are going to walk by the new garden that was finished not to long ago. I should be back in an hour or so."

Lancelot mock glared at his giant friend and said, "You better watch out for my wife or you'll be sorry!"

Dagonet smirked and asked, "And what shall you do to me if I fail?"

Lancelot smirked evilly and replied, "Simple, I'll go to Cina-Lady and tell her. I'll then get her to agree to not sleep with you for as long as Vanora holds sex from Bors."**_ (Reference to first story-All Because of One)_**

Lancelot burst out laughing as Dagonet's brown eyes widened comically and he chocked out, "Ne'er fear, I'll let no harm come to my sister, brother."

Dagonet's eyes widened again, but this it was because the giant Knight realized he had been pranked.

"Oh, I'll get you back Lancelot-just you wait." Promised the large gentle Knight as he escorted his sister and Lancelot's wife out of the chambers.


	6. Chapter 6

The Sun and Moon of House Lyon 6

Lancelot shook the water from his hair and glared at the perpetrator-Dagonet. It seemed that his giant-like friend was doing all he could to get him wet as many times as he could while not making it seem obvious. Of course, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was all apart of Dagonet's ploy to get back at him for the comment about three weeks ago. He smirked. Even if he had to be soaked for hours on end-he'd do it again just to see the Head of Finances' face when he thought that he would not get to touch Fulucina.

When he was wet, but not dripping wet, he walked over to Arthur, who had joined them in the training yard, and said, "It is the sixth month of Delia's pregnancy Arthur. How are you dealing with all this? The kingdom, marriage life, and now the baby, I mean."

Arthur smirked at his friend's wet appearance and answered with a smile, "I have never felt so alive. Just think Lance, in four more months, I'll be able to hold my son!"

Lancelot smiled back at his friend. Arthur, truthfully, did look more alive now than he had ever been while they served Rome. He could understand his king's feelings too. He felt the same. When he served Rome, he simply existed to fight, live, drink, wench, and fight some more. When he met Emogen, he gained a whole new meaning to life and found himself living instead of existing. Now he had a worthwhile job, he had his best friend back, he had a wife whom he loved more than anything in the whole world, and he had a child, a son, on the way.

Distantly, he realized that he could have a daughter, but he had yet to acknowledge this fact. He wanted a son. Not that he'd love his daughter any less, but he wanted a son so he could teach him all he knew about surviving off the land, how to fight, how to wield two swords like him, and how to get under your commanders skin without getting them mad at you.

He smirked. _I've had ample training in THAT what with having to deal with Arthur for sixteen years. _

He also realized distantly, that having a daughter also meant he could train her too, but with that same thought-a picture of Emogen and a pretty, pixie-like girl with black hair and green eyes appeared. They were fighting with him in the background smiling proudly. He shook those thoughts away. _If I have a daughter_ he told himself firmly _her training will be more towards Emogen since she knows more about training the female body. I can train her in a lot of areas, but Emmy would be her main teacher. I just want a son of my own to train and teach._

"Lancelot, are you paying any attention, my friend?" asked Arthur as he waved his hand in front of Lancelot dazed brown eyes.

Lancelot blinked and said distractedly, "Yes, I'm paying attention."

Arthur smirked and said, "Good, because Emmy is here to drag your sorry arse back to your chambers."

Lancelot blanched, shot to his feet, and cried out, "WHAT! WHERE!"

He spun in a full circle with panic clear in his brown eyes. When he spotted Arthur and the other Knights sniggering at him, he frowned and said darkly, "That's not funny! Emmy's on a warpath! I'm trying to stay on her good side and **NOT** get her angry with me! I **DON'T** fancy sleeping in the Sitting Room! That bloody couch is lumpy!"

The Knights continued to snigger at him and Seamus teased, "Is Emmy becoming a bit to much for the all powerful **_Lancelot the Brave_**? Don't you worry, she'll calm down in another…oh…five months?"

The Knights stared at him in awe. Seamus saw their looks, shrugged, and said blandly but truthfully, "You are my fellow Knights, equals, and countrymen now. If I cannot trust you to watch my back now, how will I learn to trust anyone in a situation later when it truly matters? Besides, Emmy trusts you. That's good enough for me."

Belatedly Lancelot, Arthur, and Tristran realized that Cordelia had said the same thing to them not six months ago when they were just starting to establish the ranks of Camelot. Lancelot smiled at him slightly and nodded his head. _I know Emogen will calm down, but she is still a friggen' nightmare to be around when she is angry._ She had gotten so bad, that some of the peace negotiations with the Gauls had to be placed on hold until **AFTER** the birthing.

As he opened his mouth to change the topic of discussion, Dagonet, who had gotten a pail of water to drowse himself and Bors with, walked by him and Arthur. Lancelot eyed the pail warily as he past by with no accidents. By now, all the Knights were laughing their heads off at the First Knight because of his attitude towards any amount of water near him. Lancelot frowned at them all. He pouted and thought to himself _it's just not fair! I have a very **GOOD** reason to wary of Dagonet and water! He's constantly dropping it near me and he's **NEVER** been such a slippery arse! He was our Gods-be-damned Healer for Gods' sakes! He couldn't afford to be! We might have died if he had been so slippery fingered. I just know this has to be apart of his plan to get back at me, but what's his agenda? It's only water._

As the Knights finished their workout, the Ladies of Queen Cordelia and the queen herself, walked into the arena and stomped up to them. Each Knight felt a swelling of fear build in their bellies. Their wives did not look happy-AT ALL! Each Lady had their fists planted firmly on their wider hips and their mouths were set in a firm unyielding frowns.

Arthur gulped loudly and asked, "Yes, Cordy? Do you need me for something?"

Cordelia's normally friendly sapphire blue eyes snapped at him and she replied frostily, "Yes, my husband. I do have need of you. **NOW**!"

Arthur jumped to his feet and eeped as he stammered out, "Yes, of course! Shall we retire to our chambers?"

Cordelia frowned even more darkly at him, spun on her heel, and stomped back into the castle with Arthur following her like a lost, kicked puppy dog.

As Lancelot watched his friend go, he had a sinking feeling in his gut. As a flash of emerald cloth entered his vision, he bit his lip and prayed _To **ANYONE** up there…**PLEASE** let this be an easy job to handle! _

"Was there something you need of me, My Maiden?" he asked calmly in hopes of taming his wife's monstrous temper.

She pursed her lips together, tapped her daintily slipper covered foot, and said crossly, "Yes, my husband there is. Or have you forgotten our appointment with Healer Enys?"

Lancelot's eyes widened in shock because he had thought that the appointment was four hours after dawn! He glanced at the sky and felt his stomach sink even deeper into his lower regions-it was **SIX** hours after dawn-an hour before midday (noon).

"Emmy, I…"

"No, I don't want to hear it! Now come on!" shouted Emogen fed up with her flighty husband. Lancelot gulped as her tiny fist, gripped his tunic top, and yanked him to his feet.

She glared at him and added, "Why are you wet! Do you want to catch your death?"

Lancelot just shut his mouth and glared at Dagonet. His friend looked a bit guilty, but his eyes were betraying him. Lord Dagonet Monies of the House of Hors, Head of Finance and Knight of the Round Table, was taking a perverse pleasure at watching him suffer.

Alma and Ula were glaring with red eyes at their husbands. Tristran didn't even bother to say a word. He just stood up and nodded to his wife. He wasn't at all eager to make her anymore frustrated. Ula harrumphed and stomped back inside the castle. Since she had all her emotions and hormones to deal with, plus all the others, he just silently followed her.

Gawain meekly tried to escort his pregnant wife of two months, but she slapped his hand away and glared even more hotly at him. Instead, he ducked his head and silently followed behind her.

Galahad just paled and rushed to the castle. Some of the other Knights might call him and idiot, but even he knew to go to his wife. If all the other Ladies were upset about something, it was almost certain that Enys was too. Bors and Dagonet just looked at their wives. They had just recently returned from their two-week Honeymoon, and both wished that the Briton winter coolness were upon them.

For the first time in nearly five years, Briton was playing host to a scorching heat wave and both men were smelly and sticky. Vanora was a stickler for cleanliness and Fulucina grew up learning about personal hygiene. The women would never let them touch them without a proper bath. Bors grimaced. He hated baths. But, if he wanted to touch his Vanny, he'd have too. Plus, since he was still struggling with his children's names, he was becoming more and more frustrated as time went by. Dagonet, as usual, just shrugged and moved to go to the royal baths located on the third floor of the castle.

Arthur was beside himself with worry and fear. Cordelia was acting very strangely. If he had to describe it, he'd say she was acting a bit like Emogen did when she was not feeling well. Then it hit him like lighting-Cordelia was experiencing mood swings! He sighed-this he could handle. If he could handle Lancelot in his most prissy of moods, he could handle his hormone driven wife-------he was wrong-to a point.

As soon as they entered the safety of the royal chambers, Cordelia whirled around on him and screamed out, "Where the HLL have you been?"

Arthur blinked and said calmly, "I've been training with the Knights. I maybe King now, but I am still a warrior."

Cordelia crossed her arms and said darkly, "Oh, and you just decided to put the council meetings this morning on hold? All for the sake of your TRAINING! This meeting today was about trade negotiations with the Scots!"

Arthur blinked. He didn't remember scheduling any meetings for today.

"Ah, Cordelia, what meetings? I didn't schedule any for today."

Cordelia frowned and said hotly, "Merlin said he told you yesterday about the meeting."

Arthur frowned, shook his head negatively and answered, "No, he did not tell me. In fact, I haven't **SEEN** Merlin in almost a week. When was he supposed to come and tell me?"

Cordelia's already deep frown deepened. Arthur gave a silent sigh of relief. _At least this time, it's not pointed at me-I hope._ He thought with a tiny wince.

Cordelia plunked herself gently on their large bed, and said with crossed arms, "I am sorry Arthur. I guess there must have been a misunderstanding somewhere. Merlin told me he would tell you about it late last night, as we were finishing dinner. I had retired early, if you remember, because I was not feeling well. He met me near our chambers and told me this."

Arthur placed his arms around his wife's lithe form, hugged her to him, and said reassuringly, "Fear not my wife, it is alright. I shall go and find Merlin and straighten this matter out. Also, I shall meet you in the Council Hall for these meetings I have missed. Are Merkin and Duncan still there?"

Cordelia raised watery eyes to his own green ones, and said in a tearful voice, "I should not have grown so angry at you, my husband. It was such a small mistake. I'm sorry for yelling at you and making such a scene. You did not deserve it."

Arthur smiled lovingly down at her, placed a kiss on her quivering lips, and said softly, "Cordelia, my love, your emotions are high and your temper short. It is to be expected-you are with child, my wife. I shall happily have you this way if it means that we are expecting a child made by our love. Now, let's go find Merlin and straighten this out, yes?"

Cordelia smiled happily, all traces of tears gone, and rushed out of the room as fast as her five-month belly would let her.

Arthur, as he followed slightly behind, shook his head in wonder and winced a little. A servant nearby, a man, smiled sympathetically at him, and Arthur sighed. Even the servants knew to stay away from the Ladies of Camelot, and most of the menservants gave each Lord of Camelot looks of sympathy as they walked by. Having five women pregnant at the same time was truly nerve racking.

Lancelot, as he steered down his and Emogen's wing, gulped again as he followed his plump wife. He marveled at how big and, no doubted strong, his son was. Emogen, even though she was a month behind Cordelia in moonbirth, was nearly twice as big. He wished Emogen would tell him some of the whispers Enys, Alma, and Ula told her, but she was adamant at keeping her secret.

Every time he asked how his son was treating her, she would smile slyly and say, _'He is well, my savior, **he is well**.'_ Somehow he wasn't quite sure about her answer, but he couldn't find any evidence to disprove it either.

As they entered their bedchambers, Lancelot glanced around and marveled at how quickly the servants decorated it. Their chambers were located in the east wing of Camelot and their chambers could be found in the very center of the wing. The chambers had large floor length emerald curtains that tied up with silver tassels. There were three tapestries hanging on the south, east and west walls as the bed was before the north wall with two large windows gracing the east as well. On either side of their large bed were two tables and upon each of them were candles and flints and flint strikers. They also had three doors that led to their personal Bathing Chamber and the other two doors (wardrobes) were filled with various clothes of varying shades of emerald, silver, black, and white. They also had a Sitting Chamber, a Guest Chamber, two Studies (one for him and one for Emmy-they found out that one study doesn't work for them-they tended to pay more attention to each other and not their work), and six other Bed Chambers not including their own Master Bed Chambers.

As Emogen whirled around to meet him face to face, she over balanced. With wide eyes just starting to panic, Lancelot lunged to her side, and with adrenaline filled strength, pulled her back up to his chest and wrapped two protective arms around her.

Emogen was shaking slightly and he asked soothingly, "Are you well, my Maiden? Should I send for Enys?"

She shook her head and asked with a quivering voice, "Why weren't you there in Enys' Healing Chambers? I told you to be there four hours after dawn."

Lancelot winced, gently pulled her towards their bed, sat them both down with her still in his protective embrace, and said softly, "I'm sorry, my love. I lost track of the time. I was busy helping Galahad assess some of the recently graduated troops. They were to be tested against a fully trained Knight of the Round Table and I was there. The others arrived later after breakfast. Then, when that was finished, the others started to train, and I joined in. Then, Arthur joined us and it was almost like we were back at Hadrian's Wall when we were still young boys training together. It made us all happy and we started to talk about the Knights that had fallen before us. I just lost track of the time. I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?"

Emogen placed her still tear streaked face against his neck and sighed. She placed her arms around his waist and squeezed hard.

As she nuzzled his skin, she asked, "Whom were you talking about?"

Lancelot raised an eyebrow at her calm tone, but asked, "Whom were we talking about? What do you mean?"

He felt his beloved wife's eyelashes flutter and knew that she rolled her eyes.

She sighed a bit and asked again, "Which Knights, that had fallen, did you and the others remember?"

Lancelot swallowed as his throat suddenly grew thick with sadness and said softly, "We talked of Kay, Percival, and Beveidere. Kay died only three months before we were freed of Rome, and you know how Percy and Beveidere died." **(Reference to Ch. 2 of All Because of One)**

Emogen nodded.

He continued, "We talked about how they would have LOVED to be where we are now, and how it seemed unfair to have them die so close to our freedom. But in the end, we just remembered how Kay loved to tease various women and make them blush. He rarely did more than that, but he was more charming than me in that respect. But, he also treated children and older people, especially women, with little respect. He thought girls were empty headed and thought of only husbands and playing house. He thought that older women were scatter brained and needed to be looked after."

He looked down at her closing eyes, grinned and said cheerfully, "**I**, on the other hand, respected women of **ALL** ages and earned myself the title of the Handsome Charmer!"

Emogen's eyes popped wide open and she giggled happily as she pushed herself away from him slightly. He let her, but still maintained his hold around her precious waist.

He grinned at her and ended, "We also remembered how shy Percy was around women. He was shyer than Galahad, if you can imagine, and how Beveidere liked to act like a child. Bors' lot loved to play with him. He had the most free time of us all, and he was the most child-like of us."

Emogen smiled at him and then frowned slightly.

Lancelot winced and thought _Now, I'm in for it! And I thought I had dodged her wrath this time too!'_

She smiled up at him with a straight lined mouth and said in a fake angry voice, "You just dodged that temper tantrum, my husband, but that doesn't mean you're off the hook yet! Since you told me why, I can understand why you missed the appointment. But, if you miss the next one, I'll skin you alive and let the others watch your bony hide fry in the sun-butt naked. Understand me?"

Lancelot gulped and nodded franticly. He would fry the information into his brain and make Arthur tell him three times a day for the next week just so he'll remember. _After all_ he thought with a large wince _I like my skin where it is, thank you **VERY** much!_

Okay, this one didn't exactly have Dag's revenge in it, but the first half of his revenge is. I decided to have Dag's revenge be as patient as he is. So, his revenge will be concluded in the next chapter. And I think you'll like it! So the waiting will be worth your while! LOL! I hope you enjoy this segment of the Knights chaotic lives!

Names of Lords and Ladies of Camelot 

King Arthur Pendragon Camelot of the House of Camelot, King of the Briton Isles and Head Knight of the Round Table

Queen Cordelia Dragonheart Camelot of the House of Camelot, Queen of the Briton Isles and Lady of Boudicca's Range

Lord Lancelot Shieldguard Lyon of the House of Lyon, Knight Commander, King Protectorate, and First Knight of the Round Table

Lady Emogen Serenity Lyon of the House of Lyon, Lady Ambassador and Queen's High Councilor

Lord Gawain Axelord Wolfe of the House of Wolfe, Senior Master of War and Knight of the Round Table

Lady Alma Peaceful Wolfe of the House of Wolfe, Lady of Medicine

Lord Galahad Weaponsguild Wolfe of the House of Wolfe, Head Arms Master and Knight of the Round Table

Lady Enys Tranquil Wolfe of the House of Wolfe, Senior Lady of Medicine

Lord Bors Chiefton Beran of the House of Beran, Governor of Kameland City-Proper of Camelot and Knight of the Round Table

Lady Vanora Patience Beran of the House of Beran, Royal Caretaker, Governess, and Lady of Kameland City-Proper

Lord Dagonet Monies Hors of the House of Hors, Head of Finance and Knight of the Round Table

Lady Fulucina Lady Hors of the House of Hors, Head Chief and Royal Palace Caretaker

Lord Tristran Sentinel Palðer (Panther) of the House of Palðer, Head of Intelligence and Knight of the Round Table

Lady Ula Healing Palðer of the House of Palðer, Lady of Medicine

Lord Seamus Swordking Orlege (War) of the House of Orlege, Master of War and Knight of the Round Table

Lord Dean Arrowhead Flan (Arrow) of the House of Flan, Master of War and Knight of the Round Table

Lord Connor Arbitrator Truth of the House of Certainty, Head of Regulations and Knight of the Round Table

Duke Merlin Magilos of the House of Battle, Head Advisor of State

Duke Merkin Wise of the House of Wisdom, Advisor of State

Duke Duncan Just of the House of Justice, Advisor of State

Lord Gilly Beran of the House of Beran, Heir to Lord Bors and Lady Vanora of Kameland City-Proper

Lord Alec Hors of the House of Hors, Heir to Lord Dagonet and Lady Fulucina and Head of Finance

Lord Lucus Hors of the House of Hors, Second Lord-to-Lord Dagonet and Lady Fulucina and Page of Lord Gawain, Senior Master of War


	7. Chapter 7

This chapter will have a few cute scenes with Lance and Emmy and some emotional scenes with Arthur and Lance together as well.

The Sun and Moon of House Lyon 7

Lancelot groaned as a bright beam of sunlight cheerfully reminded him it was time to get his arse out of his comfortable bed. He winced and placed a hand over his eyes to block out the sunlight. He rolled slightly and grinned. His wife, of six months, was glowing beautifully in the morning light. He had heard a lot of women in his life talk about which time of the day they were most beautiful, and he could honestly say Emogen's best time of the day was dawn. _Although_, he added with a mischievous glint in his brown eyes, _Emmy looks great during any part of the day!_

He placed a hand on her, now very extended belly, and said in a soft voice, "Good Morning my child. How are you?"

He knew the other Knights would laugh at him if they ever saw him acting like this, but he couldn't help it. This was the child he and Emmy created together with their love. Even if those same Knights acted the same as he did in the privacy of their chambers, he knew they'd still laugh at him-Lancelot the Brave. He rubbed his wife's swelling stomach and gasped when he felt two kicks. He looked at his hands in amazement. Before he could do anything else, the kicking returned wherever he put his hands.

Just as he moved to wake Emogen, she groaned and said sleepily with her own hands rubbing soothingly over her stomach, "Shhhh, my children. Yes, I know you are hungry my loves, but you must not kick me so. I'll feed you in a few minutes."

Then her eyes closed again and she quickly returned to the lands of dreams. Lancelot couldn't believe his ears. _CHILDREN! As in MORE THAN ONE!_ Lancelot grinned largely and placed two reverent kisses upon his wife's stomach.

He muttered, "My children, I love you."

As he moved to dress, Emogen rolled over and her eyes fluttered open. As she sat up, she placed a hand upon her very pregnant belly, and said sleepily, "Are you going to the Meeting Hall?"

Lancelot grinned largely at his wife and decided to not tell her that he knew her secret. He decided, that if she wanted to keep the secret of their children to herself, to surprise him, he'd let her have that. He moved to her side, placed a strong kiss upon her lips, and then placed another kiss upon her stomach. Emogen moaned in approval. He smirked and thought as he moved away, _Her being pregnant makes her ultra sensitive to my touch. If I didn't have to go to that blasted meeting, I'd be tempted to stay in bed today! _

He nodded and said, "Yes, we have some reports to go over and Tristran says that some of his operatives have discovered some strange people along our coasts. We're going to be discussing First Contact, defensive procedures, and offensive tactics. You should go eat, I'm sure our son," here he smirked and rubbed her stomach again and his grin widened as he felt two more strong kicks, "…is very hungry. Emmy, when did this start? Why didn't you tell me?"

Emmy blushed and said shyly, "It started about two weeks ago, and I wanted you to find out yourself. Isn't it amazing!"

Lancelot laughed, kissed her hotly again, and said happily, "Emmy, my maiden, it is glorious! That is our child! We created this little person, and I can tell he is going to be a very energetic child! I can't wait to meet him and have him in my arms!"

Emogen smiled at her husband, pushed him away softly, and said, "You'd best be going. It is already an hour after dawn."

Then she added teasingly, "You don't want to make Arthur mad at you, do you?"

Lancelot placed a kiss upon her crown of black curls and said, "I'm off then. You eat and then maybe go see Cordelia. Ever since Enys placed her on bed rest, she's been a bit…ah…chaotic. She could use the company I bet."

Emogen laughed and nodded.

Lancelot tugged at his emerald shirt, glanced at his reflection in his wardrobe mirror, and sighed. It's been more than half a year, since they have taken up their responsibilities as the Lords of Camelot and Briton, herself, and he still wasn't entirely comfortable in his clothes as Knight Commander and King Protectorate. He was dressed in a billowing emerald green wrap shirt and revealed a bit of his well defined pectorals and cuffed tightly around his wrists. Upon his heart, was a silver shield cut into four parts. The upper top left was emerald green, the top upper right was silver, the bottom left was silver, and the bottom right was emerald. In the center of the shield was a golden lion with emerald eyes over lapping a golden dragon with dark blue sapphire eyes-this showed his allegiance to the royal family of Camelot. Behind both animals were his twin swords colored steel and black. All his shirts and cloaks now had this symbol emblazed across the heart, and he liked them. But it still made him a bit uncomfortable wearing such things of finery. After all, he dressed commonly for nearly thirty years. Around his trim waist, or bone-y butt as Emogen would say, was a black leather belt. The belt buckle was silver and carved into a lion's head with its mouth open in a mean roar. The lion's eyes were emerald as well. His trousers were black leathers, well lived in even before he received them-it was a new style of dress in Briton apparently. The tanners beat the leathers until they felt softer than a newborn sheep's wool. His feet were encased in new shiny leather black boots with an emerald orb in the front upon his shins where the boots ended their reach. Upon his left ring finger was his most favorite of accessories-his wedding band. Upon his right pointer finger was a silver ring with an emerald orb on it too. Lastly, around his head was his silver crown.

Lancelot shook his head as he opened his chamber door. Emogen was in the Washing Chambers and he didn't want to interrupt her there. Emogen **LIKED** her baths. So much so, that even **HE** got kicked out when she wanted to be alone.

As the door squeaked open, he raised an eyebrow and looked up. His door was too new to be squeaking already and gasped.

**SPLASH!**

Lancelot shivered with cold and anger. He rushed to the Meeting Hall and roughly opened the door.

He blinked in shock as tiny yellow baby chicken feathers fluttered to the ground; Most of them sticking to him-of course!

**"DAGONET!"** he roared as he stomped into the Meeting Hall.

Immediately, all the Knights of the Legendary Round Table, all three of the Dukes-his father-n-law included, and all the Knights Pages', Gilly, Galahad's Page, Alec, his own Page, Ganis, Bors' Page, Jols, Arthur's Squire, Lucus, Gawain's Page, Liam, Dagonet's Page, Lavelle, Tristran's Page, Connor, Dean's Page, Angelus, Seamus' Page, and Dustin, Connor's Page laughed uproariously at him.

Lancelot ignored them all and stomped up to Dagonet, the Head of Finance. He stopped just before his friend, and raised a clenched fist. It was shaking at what they all thought was rage, he was sure.

Immediately all the laughing silenced and Arthur rose and walked quickly to his side.

"Now, now Lancelot, it was only joke." Tried Arthur.

Lancelot rolled his eyes and said, "No, it was only a joke with him splashing me constantly with water for the past month and a half. I've taken it all, because it was all in good fun, but splashing me with all this water is **TIRESOME!** And this is all in retaliation for a comment about him and Cina! A comment, might I remind you, I told him **more** than a month and a half ago!"

As Lancelot tried to clam himself, or as it appeared to the others, Bors asked cautiously, "So, what are you going to do?"

Lancelot eyed Dagonet and Bors evilly and said, "Nothing…but this!"

Then before them all, he jumped onto Dagonet, wrapped his arms and legs around the large man, and shouted out happily, "My baby just kicked me!"

He jumped off the shocked Giant and laughed even more hilariously then the others had at him.

Arthur got over the shock first and started to laugh with him. Slowly, but surely, the others got over their shocks and joined in-even Dagonet.

As Dagonet patted him on the back, he asked, "So, how did it feel? To feel your child, for the first time through Emmy's belly? I've been waiting for this, actually. I got to meet him a week ago during one of our walks. It was amazing, no? And you're not really mad about the joke, are you?"

Lancelot shook his head and replied, "Nah, after this morning's events, not even news of war could ruin my good mood! My son is strong! He kicked me many times this morning before I left!"

Bors laughed, patted him on the back too, and said, "So, now you know how I feel!"

Lancelot smiled at the older man and nodded.

Merlin stepped in, "Now, now, this is good news indeed. But, we really **DO** need to get this meeting started."

As they all sat down, Merlin added, "Congratulations Lancelot."

Lancelot couldn't stop grinning the entire time the meeting was in progress. When the meeting finally came to a close, he and Arthur remained in the room as the others left. Lancelot could tell there was something going on in Arthur's mind, and it didn't have anything to do with the Kingdom's defense. Lancelot sat himself back down in his dark oak throne-like chair with the engraving of a lion and crossed his arms. If this was like last time, when Arthur was having troubles determining his feelings for Cordelia and Guinevere, this might be a long discussion. **(Reference to All Because of One Chapter 11 or 12) **

Lancelot watched as his friend, dressed in his courtly clothes of a dark blue wrap shirt with tight cuffs, his golden shield with the castle of Camelot and his sword Excalibur in the center of the shield, black belt, golden dragon head belt buckle, and black trousers and boots paced up and down the back of the chambers.

The Meeting Hall or the Round Table Hall of Justice was very large and took up almost half of the second floor. He smirked and thought, _This castle is the most unorthodox one in the entire world! Who would think that our chambers would be split into wings and be placed on the first floor with the kitchens for our personal use in the very center? The underground floor is nothing but storage and prison cells. The second floor is the Great Hall and the Meeting Hall with a few Chamber Pot (Bathrooms) rooms as well. The third floor is public baths for visiting dignitaries and the population of Camelot too. They can use the front way to the third floor, or use the secret passage that the entire populace knows of but would never tell a person not of Briton. The forth floor is the Infirmary or Enys, Ula, and Alma's personal world of Medicine. Then there are the Library and armory-for weapons of display, not use- on the fifth floor. The weapons used for war and training was in their own chambers or in the Training Hall located in a different building between the castle and the Inner Defense Wall. The next two floors have more than one hundred chambers for visiting dignitaries as well and their own privet washrooms. The last floor has storage and servant chambers. Arthur sure knows how to dismiss conformity!_

He sighed and asked, "Arthur, what is it? You've been pacing for more than five minutes now **AND** you've had this topic on your mind during the entire meeting. Out with it!"

Arthur sighed, ran his hand through his hair, and said with a laugh as he sat back down beside him, "You know me to well, my friend."

Lancelot smirked and said pompously, "Of course! I'm the only one who could handle your broodiness and make you smile for a long while before Delia came along. And even then, she comes to me often on how to bring you out of whatever depression you've fallen into."

Arthur smiled at him and threw his head back and laughed. Lancelot smiled and said teasingly, "See, I did it again! Now, what is it Arthur, really?"

Arthur calmed down and said seriously, "Lance, in only three months my son will be born. I'm not sure I'm up to this?"

Lancelot raised and eyebrow and waited for his friend to continue, "I mean, will I be a good father? I never knew my father, and all my life I've readied myself for war and death. Sure I can be a good uncle, Bors' lot assured that, but can I truly be a good father to this innocent child I've created?"

Arthur stopped and raised scared eyes to him. Lancelot sighed, ran his own hand through his curly hair, and said, "Arthur, that's a question I've asked myself as well. The thing is, we won't know until we are fathers and hold our children for the first time. Tell me Arthur, who are you?"

Arthur blinked at him in confusion, but replied, "I am Arthur Pendragon Camelot of the House of Pendragon and Camelot, King of the Briton Isles, husband of Queen Cordelia Dragonheart Pendragon Camelot and father to the new heir which scares me to hell!"

Lancelot sighed and asked again, "Who are you?"

Arthur stared at him in exasperation and repeated, "I am Arthur Pendragon Camelot of the House of Pendragon and Camelot, King of the Briton Isles, husband of Queen Cordelia Dragonheart Pendragon Camelot and father to the new heir and Prince of Camelot and Briton!"

Lancelot pursed his lips and asked again in a thunderous voice, **_"WHO ARE YOU ARTORIUS!"_**

Arthur gasped and pushed back from him and replied after a few shocked moments of silence, "I am Lucius Artorius Castus ancestrally name after the first Artorius. I am the son of Uther Lucius Castus and Igraine of the Woads, Lady of Peace. I am Arthur, Commander of the Sarmatian Knights and Commander of Hadrian's Wall. I am Arthur."

Lancelot nodded with a proud smiled and asked more gently, "And, who is Arthur? Not Artorius, not King Arthur, but Arthur-just Arthur."

With comprehension in his clear green eyes and said strongly, "I am Arthur, a simple man. I am husband to Cordelia. I am a fair and just man. I can fight and bring peace. I am a friend to my Knights and my best friend is Lancelot. I am to be a father. I am Arthur."

Lancelot nodded and said back, "I am Lancelot, a simple man. I am husband to Emogen. I am just but opinionated. I can fight and bring peace. I am a friend with all the Knights and my best friend is Arthur. I am to be a father. I am Lancelot."

He stopped and looked to his friend and ended, "We are who we are Arthur. It doesn't matter what our titles or our ranks are. We are who we are. When it all comes down to it, we are all men and we all have the same thoughts and fears. We are both going to be fathers within weeks of each other. We will learn how to be good, no **GREAT**, fathers together just like we always have, right?"

Arthur smiled and nodded.

Lancelot stood up, stretched, and said, "Well, I don't know about you, but al that talking about Gaul Rebels made me anxious to fight. How about you and I go and practice a bit?"

He froze and added a bit sheepishly, "After Emmy's appointment."

Arthur laughed, clapped him on the shoulder, and said seriously but emotionally as they walked towards the stairs, "Lancelot, will you grant me the honor of becoming my child's godfather?"

Lancelot froze on the first step and stared at his king.

Arthur met his gaze evenly and continued, "You are my best friend and I'd like for no one else to raise my child with Delia if something should happen to me. I would trust no one else with this. Will you?"

Lancelot swallowed the lump within his throat, and answered in a croak, "Only if you become my child's as well."

Arthur smiled back and the two hugged. It was heartfelt and both felt more connected to one another than ever. It didn't even matter that there were servants in the same area as them, to them; this was so emotionally filling for them both.

They pulled back and Arthur said, "How about we get to Enys' Healing Chambers, eh? I dare say that Delia and Emmy are both there and I don't think having them both mad at us is a good thing."

Lancelot barked out a tearful laugh and nodded.

As the entered the Senior Healer's Chambers, Lancelot thought happily as Emogen smiled beautifully at him _I am truly the luckiest man alive!_

Okay, so how was it? I hope the bonding of Lance and Arthur wasn't too bad for those of you who don't like to see men bonding? But I thought this was a good place to put this in since the birthing of the children is almost upon them. I thought it was a good time to have Lance and Arthur doubt themselves like every father-to-be.


	8. Chapter 8

This deals with some problems with Cordelia that will be dealt with in the last chapter, but **WARNING** it a bit emotional to **ALL** the characters in this chapter.

The Sun and Moon of House Lyon 8

Lancelot sighed. Since his friend and King was currently in Enys' Healing Chambers with Cordelia for their weekly baby appointment, he was currently seated in the Great Hall meeting with a few friendly, visiting dignitaries in Arthur's stead. He was careful to keep his next sigh hidden and a small, polite, friendly smile on his lips as he thought _When will this end! This guy has said the exact same thing four times already-four different ways! It's like he doesn't realize that I know this, and is making me feel like an idiot for listening to him! I wish Emmy were here._

Then his thoughts turned worrisome, but his face retained its neutral friendly air. Enys had placed Emogen on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy because all the effort Emogen had to do just to walk. Emogen, for the past month, had been short of breath and complaining of back pains. Enys, Ula, **AND** Alma assured him, _in privet_, that this was normal in pregnancies and he shouldn't worry. But, he'd worry about his lovely wife and children for the rest of his days, and there was nothing those three could do about it. Also, Emogen had been experiencing stomach pains and the tightening of the womb's muscles for a week now. Enys had explained to him that this meant that the babe was close to being born. He bit his lip, absently made a hand gesture that meant _'carry-on'_, and sat back against Arthur's Deep Oak with golden trimmed throne, and pretended to listen once again.

The only thing was, their children were just into their seventh month and if those stomach pains meant anything like what the three Healers said, their children would be two months early, and they would not survive living outside Emogen's womb. He didn't want his children to die. Plus, there was a chance that Emmy could die too. He didn't want his wife, the light of his life, to die and leave him in darkness. Emmy made him whole again. Then Lancelot heard Ula's gentle voice in his ear, _Lance this is her first birth, to bare twins will be hard on her, and she could die. I don't want to alarm you, but…you need to be aware of this._

He came back to the present when the man, some high lieutenant from around the area of Egypt, bowed and said, "Is this satisfactory?"

He blinked and with a straight face, that revealed none of his panic, said, "For me to think so at this point in time, is for naught, for I must review this with my Lord and King. When we adjourn to discuss all of today's meetings, I shall converse with King Arthur about your trading plans. If he is in agreement with you, I shall inform you of my satisfaction. I thank you for your time, and I hope you enjoy the remainder of your time here in Camelot. Should you wish anything, please, ask one of our servants. They will assist you in anything you need."

The Egyptian bowed once more and vanished.

Lancelot sighed and rubbed his face once he was sure he was relatively alone.

"You weren't very aware of what was being discussed." Came a voice from the shadows.

Lancelot raised his head and answered tiredly, "Can you blame me, Merkin?"

Duke Merkin Wise shook his head and said, "Even though you face such darkness Lancelot, you must keep your head on the Matters of State too. 'Tis a good thing that you answered the Emissary from Egypt so neutrally; he might have taken offence if you had replied in any other way."

Lancelot rolled his eyes and asked warily, "Is that all? I'm sure there aren't anymore Ambassadors, right?"

Merkin looked at the scroll in his hand and said, "You're right. He was the last."

Merkin looked at the tired man, and said with more care in his voice, "Go, go to Emmy Lancelot. She needs your love and support now just as you need hers."

Lancelot nodded and all but ran out of the Great Hall.

Lancelot slowed as he came to the fork in the hall. To the right were Arthur and Cordelia's chambers and to the left were his and Emogen's. He bit his bottom lip as his eyes jumped from left to right. The torch outside Arthur's chambers was lit meaning that he and Cordelia were inside. He wanted to go and see how his queen was, but he also wanted to be there for his wife as much as possible. He turned when he heard the sound of soft footsteps behind him. There was only one person who could walk that silently behind him, and still make his presence unknown to his other senses-Tristran.

"Hello, Tristran, how are you?"

Tristran came up beside him and said softly, "You are tired, my brother. You should be in bed resting."

Lancelot rubbed his aching eyes in silent agreement, and said warily, "I cannot. With Arthur and I being who we are, our jobs are very time consuming. Then we have to add the worry we feel for our wives. Emogen couldn't sleep well at all last night, and Cordelia was much the same. With the twins pushing so hard upon her body, Emogen has little to no energy left for more than eating and sleeping. I'm worried, Tristran. I could loose all three of them, and I don't know what to do. This is something I cannot fight. What am I going to do?"

Tristran placed his hand upon his Commander's shoulder and said soothingly, "Hope, that's all you can do. Emmy is strong, Lance. You just have to hold out for another two months, and then you can finally hold your children."

Lancelot smiled and nodded.

He turned towards the scout and said happily, "Thank you Tristran, I feel much better now. Now, I need to go and reassure Arthur of the same thing. Can you go and watch Emmy for me? Dagonet should have left an hour ago when she fell asleep, and she should be waking up soon."

Tristran nodded and said, "I'll keep her company. You go and play best friend to our beloved King, eh?"

Lancelot smirked and nodded. Very quickly he walked the rest of the way down the right wing, and knocked solidly on the oak door.

"Who is it?" came Arthur's tired, but strong voice.

Lancelot smiled and said back, "Only I, Arthur. May I come in, cousin?"

There was silence for a moment, as the door opened up and Arthur's surprised face appeared before him.

Lancelot threw all caution to the four winds and hugged his friend tightly and said, "It'll be alright, Arthur. The child is strong and Cordelia too. Do not despair."

Arthur wrapped his own arms around his friend and said, "I'm trying to. What are you doing here? And why did you call me Cousin?"

Lancelot pulled back, smirked, and said lightly as he stepped into the room, "That's what I am now, isn't it? I mean, Delia and Emmy are cousins therefore so are we, my brother."

Arthur tilted his head and said equally lightly as Lancelot sat on the edge of his bed and placed a soft kiss upon Cordelia's slightly pale brow, "I hadn't really thought about it that way. You're right, of course, but I've only ever thought of you as my brother. Cousins? Yes, we are, but I'd rather just call you brother."

Lancelot with his arms around his wife's cousin, for a gentle hug, smirked up at him and said, "Well, of course! But, it's a new title for you I'm trying out. Now I can call you, king, commander, friend, cousin, **AND** brother!"

He turned to Cordelia and asked softly as Arthur sat down on his side of the bed beside Cordelia, "And how is the little prince, cousin?"

Cordelia rubbed her very pregnant belly and said tiredly, "For only eight months, he's a big boy. He's pushing downwards and Enys is afraid he'll damage my insides during the birthing process."

She looked up into familiar dark brown eyes that were filled with sympathy, hugged him gently, and said softly, "I'll birth him just the same, and love him till the end of time, but I'm not sure I'll last the birthing. I'm so tired now, and during the birthing I'll be using even more energy that I'm not sure I have Lance. I'm afraid…I don't want to die."

Lancelot looked distraught. Arthur also wrapped his arms around the queen of Briton and said softly as both he and the First Knight comforted the woman, "You'll live my love because you have the will to live. You **will** live because of our son. He needs his mother and **I** need you, too. You will find the energy to birth him and live because you want to live and see him grow. I know this because you told me so many times. I know you, Delia, my love. You will **NOT** die; understand? Do not doubt yourself on this."

Lancelot nodded and said equally as passionate, "You **will** live Delia, if only to see your son grow up tall and proud. We **ALL** still need you dear cousin, do not despair. In a month's time, your son will be born. Take comfort and cheer from this, not fear. And he will be a beautiful child."

He smiled at her and Arthur and ended softly and lovingly, "After all, with you two as his parents, how could he be anything less?"

Cordelia burst into tears and hugged her cousin's husband tight. Lancelot simply smiled and held her close with Arthur's arms wrapped around him too. He knew Cordelia needed to hear what they had told her, and he was glad they got through to her. This little princeling was absorbing much of Delia's strength like his own twins were with Emmy. Cordelia was just tired. When the time came to birth the prince, she'd have the strength to do so successfully because she **IS** strong.

He released his hold on his queen and cousin and said, "Now, I have to go comfort my own wife since Tristran is keeping her company. Will you be alright now, Delia?"

Cordelia nodded sleepily and said, "Yes, go to Emmy. She's even worst then me I think today. After all, this is her first birthing. At least I've gone through this once before. She has not."

Arthur furrowed his brows and asked, "When was this?"

Lancelot patted his friend on the back as Cordelia answered as her eyes closed, "Once, a long time ago, when a Roman captured me. He tortured me and killed my babe whist still in my belly. Merlin had to cut her from me, to save my life as hers had been forfeit…"

Then she was asleep.

Lancelot pulled his friend from the bed gently and then out the door. Arthur punched the rock wall hard and growled.

"Arthur, you must control yourself. I bet this is why Delia's is sick and tired all the time. She's afraid that what happened before will occur again. You'll have to support her almost constantly because of this, I'm sure. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go to my own wife. Please, remain calm." Pleaded Lancelot. He felt horrible for his friend, but he had his own wife to comfort and he couldn't be in two places at once. Plus, he knew his friend was beating himself up for not knowing this little tidbit of information about his wife. Arthur would also take this offence onto himself because he was once Roman and fought so hard for Rome.

In the past year alone, Arthur's entire life structure had been torn upside down and thrown to the four winds. He had been slowly gathering his life back together, and this new bit of information was threatening to destroy what little he had rebuilt.

Arthur sighed and Lancelot watched as his friend's strong shoulders slumped.

Arthur turned to him and said, "Go, go to Emmy. I'll join you when I can. I want to stay with her for a few more minutes and…"

Lancelot held up a hand and said in understanding, "I be waiting for you then."

He placed a hand on Arthur's shoulder and said in a supporting voice, "Hey, just think of your son! Cordelia **AND** the prince will be here and back to normal in only a few weeks!"

Arthur smiled weakly and nodded. Then he vanished back through his door.

Lancelot sighed and ran to his own chambers. When he entered his chambers, he saw Emogen and Tristran were sitting on the bed talking softly to one another. Tristran raised his hand and whipped away one of Emogen's tears and pointed at him. Emogen smiled bravely at him and he smiled back.

When he was seated beside her, he placed his arms around her and said, "My Maiden, what's troubling you. Is it the child?"

Emogen smirked and said with a watery voice, "I know you know that we're to have twins. You can stop pretending now, my savior."

Lancelot winced slightly and asked, "How'd you find out?"

Emogen smiled at him and said gently, "Ula told me that she **HAD** to inform you of the twins because of my condition. But, for some reason, Tristran seems to think that you knew before hand. How'd you find out?"

Lancelot smiled and said as he rubbed her swollen belly and felt his children kick his hands once again, "I found out from you, actually. Last month, when I felt them kick me for the first time was when I found out. I was about to wake you up and tell you that they kicked me, but you placed your hands upon your stomach and told **them** to be patient, and that you'll feed them soon. I decided to let you have your secret since you hadn't told me yet, and I wanted you to be able to surprise me when you were ready. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, are you mad at me?"

Since Emogen's emotions had been all over the place this past month, Lancelot was afraid that with his confession his lovely wife would break into a fit of tears. He was surprised and thankful that she did not.

She snuggled into his embrace, kissed his neck, and said, "Nay, I'm not mad. I'm glad that you know. I was growing tired of hiding it from you anyways."

She straightened up and asked brightly, "How is Delia?"

Lancelot closed his eyes painfully and answered with a question of his own, "How come none of you Ladies ever told us that Cordelia had been with child before?"

Lancelot saw Tristran's head snap up and his eyes widen. This was the most surprised Tristran had ever been if his memory was correct, and he totally understood how the scout felt.

Emogen tensed up in his arms and asked tersely, "How'd you find out about the babe?"

Lancelot sighed, rubbed her stomach in an attempt to calm the twins, and said softly, "She told us herself as she was falling asleep. I don't think she meant to, but she told us while she was in the haze of wakefulness and dreams. I think this is why she's been so distraught lately. She's afraid that this babe will be stolen from her belly like the one before."

Lancelot saw his wife bite her lip, sigh, and answer, "It was during our seventeenth year and Cordelia, Guinevere, and I had just reached maturity. We had taken our places as the Ladies of Power and as a show of their allegiance; all ten tribes threw a large party for the three of us. As our titles and ranks allowed, Cordelia, Guinevere, and I took our first lovers and Delia became pregnant."

At the men's startled look, she added, "She had forgotten to take the herbs."

They nodded and Lancelot felt her take another deep breath and continue, "She had been shocked to find out she was with child, but she was determined to have the babe even though the father wanted nothing to do with it. It was during her eighth month, like now, that she was taken prisoner by an old friend of ours."

At their confused look, she elaborated, "A Roman Commander by the name of Germanous."

Both Knights felt an intense fire burn in their bellies. It made them smile in a feral way when they remembered how Dagonet had killed the little Roman bastard months ago.

Emogen continued, "Anyways, Germanous was drunk apparently, and decided that a Woad woman, unwedded, and with child should suffer for her sin of passion. He beat her and paid a lot of attention to her stomach. He killed the babe, a girl, and Merlin had to cut her out from Delia's belly."

She sighed and ended sadly, "Since this is Delia's eighth month, she's probably filled with fear and anxiousness about the babe. She already lost one, and she doesn't want to lose this one either."

She turned to Tristran and said beseechingly, "You must tell Arthur this. Only he can help Delia with her nightmares now. We all can help, yes, but he most of all."

Tristran nodded and silently left after smiling a little at him and placing a gentle, brotherly kiss upon his wife's brow.

As he settled in more comfortably in bed with her, he asked, "And how are you feeling? I know you cannot be very happy about Enys' enforced bed rest."

Emogen sighed, leaned against his strong body, and said, "I am dealing with it. I hate not being able to walk around, but I know this is for the best. I do not want to endanger the baby with to much exercise. But, I am going insane with only these four walls to stare at. If only I could go outside to the garden, and not have to walk…"

She ended her sentence mid way through and asked with bright hopeful eyes, "Can you carry me outside, my love? That way I'll not be on my feet, which hurt a lot now, and I'd still get to stare at something other than these **four walls**?"

Lancelot opened his mouth to reply, when their door opened and revealed Arthur. He had tears in his eyes. Lancelot sucked in a deep breath. Tristran had told Arthur, and Arthur was devastated by the story. Emogen could read his friend just as well as he, and silently opened her arms to him. Arthur came to their bed and gently wrapped his arms around his best friend's wife. Lancelot placed his hand upon Arthur's shoulder and squeezed it in support. Arthur was shaking and tears were falling from his eyes, but Lancelot didn't care. This was a terrible time for Arthur and he still had to deal with Kingship duties as well later on. He needed this release now-of this Lancelot was sure.

When Arthur's tears stopped, he pulled away and said in an embarrassed tone, "I'm sorry, I came to help you. And here I am crying like a child."

Emogen smiled and Lancelot heard the love in her voice as she said, "I do not blame you, my cousin. Cordelia's story is an emotional one. The sadness is only added to you because you once knew Germanous and he had betrayed you yet again, only this time you hadn't a clue that he betrayed you. It hurts, but like Delia, you'll get over it and besides…"

She smiled and ended with a laugh, "He's dead!"

Arthur and Lancelot couldn't help but laugh with her. Her smile was had an infectious quality to it, that made everyone want to laugh with her.

Emogen smiled again and asked, "Could you go and find Enys for me? I want to ask her if it's okay for me to go outside with Lancelot carrying me around."

Arthur blinked, nodded, and said, "I'll bring her here. I'll be back."

When Arthur left their chambers, Emogen stretched and said, with an energy that had been absent from her voice for a long time, "Let's get ready to go outside!"

Lancelot raised an eyebrow at her sure tone. His wife must have seen it because she shrugged and answered, "She'll let me go, it's not like I'll be alone or walking. But I **HAVE** to get outta here!"

Lancelot smirked at her and went to his wardrobe. After he pulled out his early winter cloak, he pulled out her cloak from her own wardrobe and marveled once again at their royal quality and look. The cloaks were dyed a dark emerald green and on the left side, above the heart, and on the back of the cloak was the Lyon Family Coat of Arms. The top left of the shield was emerald, the top right was silver, the bottom left was silver, and the bottom right was emerald. In the center of the shield was a golden lion with his mouth open in a roar. The lion's eyes were emerald. Behind the lion was a golden dragon with sapphire eyes. Behind the dragon and the lion were his twin demon blades dyed steel and black. It was a marvelous work of art, and he reminded himself to thank the Seamstress the next time he saw her. Her work was excellent, and she deserved their utmost thanks.

As he stared at the lion again though, depressing thoughts of Sarmatia flashed through his head. The lion was actually the symbol of his tribe. His father, his mother, his sister, and his brother probably thought he was dead. But, he couldn't help that. He couldn't leave Arthur and Emogen. Emogen couldn't travel in her delicate condition either. Plus, he'd never let his wife travel such a distance-to many problems could happen with bandits, illnesses, and rogue Roman soldiers-not to mention other cultural groups could attack them too. _No, it was better to stay here, in Briton, **home**._ Thought Lancelot with a small sigh.

Emogen's calling, "Lance, Lance, Lancelot!" thankfully interrupted his thoughts.

He shook his head to clear it of his depressing thoughts, smiled, turned around, and said, "Sorry, I was just admiring the stitching. We really need to tell Miss Hailey that her work is excellent! Perhaps we should also pay her more for the quality and time she puts into making all these clothes for all of us. It's really fine work."

Emogen rolled her eyes and opened her mouth. Before she could reply, the chamber door opened and in stepped Arthur leading an almost six months pregnant Enys.

Enys stepped up to the bed, without Arthur's help, and said as she placed a hand on Emogen's stomach, "You can go outside with Lancelot's help, if it's only for an hour. If you feel your stomach tightening again though, you're coming inside no matter what you say, understand?"

Emogen nodded eagerly. Lancelot winced. He knew his wife wanted to **DO** something, but being outside probably wasn't the best thing. _But I can't persuade her otherwise. **AND** Enys said it's okay. I just wish she'd rather stay in with Delia or something. But, she and Delia are together so much lately, that they are probably running out of topics to discuss. I suppose she really **DOES** need this break…_

Arthur nodded and said, "Well then, let's get Delia and go outside. I'm sure we can discuss those meetings from this morning just as well there than in the Meeting Hall."

Lancelot looked at his friend and Arthur answered the unasked question clear in his eyes, "I asked Enys the same thing concerning Cordelia. I really think that some fresh air and just being outside will do wonders for her health. So, while I get Delia, you start heading out for the gardens, okay?"

Lancelot nodded and as he picked up his wife bridal style, Arthur ran down the hall and took a quick left turn. The couple made it to the garden in about fifteen minutes with Arthur and Cordelia five minutes behind them.

When they were settled in nice and comfortably under the shade of a large oak tree, Arthur turned to Lancelot and asked, "Well, let's have it."

Lancelot rolled his eyes and said, "For the most part, we had ten dignitaries today and most of them want to establish trading routes with us. Apparently our style of clothing has caused a ruckus, in a good way, and everybody wants our clothes!"

Arthur and the cousins burst out laughing.

Cordelia said cheerfully, "Of course! We are using the best of Rome and making it even better! Why wouldn't they want our clothes! They can finally show off to Rome and not get in trouble for it!"

Arthur waved his hand and Lancelot continued, "There is one, a man from the far south, Egypt perhaps, I truthfully wasn't listening very well to his place of origin. He wants to establish a trade route with us, but it is mostly for importing good **from** them, not us exporting goods **to** them. They see their foods as a high commodity and think we'll take to them eagerly. I told him that I'd have to talk to you about it. But, the costs alone to export all the way from Egypt…"

Arthur nodded and said, "Yes, it would be costly. Especially for some of those fruits I bet they want us to buy. Rome pays an obscenely large amount monthly for the fruits, and I just don't think we're ready to pay for that kind of luxury. But, it's something we'll have to discuss later on with Dagonet to be absolutely sure."

Lancelot nodded and fell silent as the four friends and family just relaxed for the first time in nearly nine months. Not just sleeping-true relaxation. It felt glorious!


	9. Chapter 9

The Sun and Moon of House Lyon 9

Lancelot, Arthur, and the other Knights of the Round Table were watching on helplessly as Cordelia cried herself into an exhausted sleep. They watched Enys, Alma, and Ula stare at one another and shake their heads sadly.

Emogen was near tears herself and Lancelot found himself to be fighting the instinct to protect his very pregnant mate and wife from the demons that were hunting her. Unfortunately, this hunter, this demon, was something he could not fight. Cordelia, herself, was the only on who could fight this particular demon-her own internal fears.

Enys, with her hand on her lower back to help alleviate the pressure that her own six and a half month old child was putting on her, stood up straight and said, "There is nothing we can do, Arthur. The stress her body is under is from her own consciousness. Only she can make this danger pass. But, if she continues much longer…"

There Lady Enys Tranquil of the House of Wolfe stopped, bit her lip, and ended in a voice reserved for her station as Senior Lady of Medicine, "…she **WILL** lose the baby, and this time-it'll be her fault."

Lancelot bit his lip and glanced at his best friend. Arthur's naturally olive toned skin was pasty white and his eyes seemed larger than normal. His friend was deathly afraid for his wife and unborn child. Lancelot was so mad! He wanted to **DO** something for his friend, but he was unable too.

Galahad growled and asked roughly, "Isn't there **ANYTHING** you all or Merlin can do to help her?"

Ula glared at him and replied hotly, "No! Only Delia can help herself now. The problem is she doesn't believe she is safe in her dreams. She's afraid of the Bishop that lives in her dreams, even though she **KNOWS** he's dead in real life!"

As Emogen waddled up to him, he leaned down to pick her up, and she said softly yet everyone heard her easily, "Cordelia's problem is that she doesn't know if she'll be a good mother. She failed to protect her first child, and she's afraid that if this child is removed from her body, she'll fail again. So…"

Merlin's voice, from behind them all, ended somberly, "So she's putting a strain on her body attempting to, subconsciously, keep the baby within her womb. The problem here is, she has reached nine months already. Actually, if you want to be specific about it, nine months was a week ago. The baby is straining to get out, and she's straining to keep him or her in. It's not supposed to work that way, but I guess the **WILL** of a truly scared and protective mother is stronger than nature it seems. Arthur, you **HAVE** to make her understand that the danger she thought she was in has long passed. She **HAS** protected her child this time. You have to make her understand that she didn't fail! Also, if she continues this plan of hers, she and the babe **WILL DIE**."

Lancelot turned to the others. Their horrified faces, matched his own he was sure. He gently shifted his sleeping wife in his arms and said softly, but commandingly, "Let's leave Arthur and Delia alone. They have enough to worry about without us all here crowding their chambers. I know we all want to be here to support her, but I think she'll feel better if we come to her one at a time to offer our support."

Arthur threw him and grateful smile and silently the Knights exited the royal chambers. Merlin went in the opposite direction back towards the Great Hall. Lancelot smiled. He and the other Dukes were holding court today in their stead because of the current situation.

As he entered his own chambers and placed Emogen in their bed, he placed his large _skilled-in-the-art-of-war_ hands over his children. He couldn't even comprehend how it would feel to be in Arthur's position. He **NEVER** wanted to find out either. This was a type of torture he would never wish upon any of his enemies-**INCLUDING** the Saxons (Cerdic of Cynric) or Huns!

He sat down and sighed. _It is like Merlin said; Cordelia doesn't want to fail her child and she's protecting it the best she can by keeping the baby inside her own body. But, the child is ready to live on it's own, how are we going to reassure her enough to let the birthing process? She's made it to the ninth month with a healthy child. **WHAT IS SHE SO AFRAID OF?**_

He sighed again only this time in exhaustion. He lay down next to his wife and thought as he fell asleep _Never again will all **FIVE** of them be pregnant at the same time! **NEVER, my promise to God!**_

He shot up into a sitting position and blinked stupidly at the tapestry-covered wall. He did it again. He spoke of the Christian God as his own-like Arthur. He shook his head. Since he had been doing that more and more lately, he'd think about the ramifications of all the religious stuff later. Right now, he just wanted to sleep for the next five months.

"**AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGG!**" shrieked a voice. The very echoes of the voice made Lancelot and Emogen jump out of their bed and onto the floor. Luckily, Emogen was able to catch herself on her hands and knees. Lancelot was not so lucky. He crashed into the stone floor –face first. They rushed to the door just in time to hear a painful scream cut through the castle halls again.

Emogen gasped and exclaimed as she waddled as fast as she could down the hall, "CORDELIA!"

Lancelot paled and rushed to his wife's side and together they raced to the royal chambers. They met the others there at Arthur and Cordelia's door. Lancelot swung open the door and they saw Cordelia sitting up and red faced. Arthur was standing at her side fretting like an over-grown chicken with it's head cut off.

The Ladies of Camelot rushed into action. As Vanora grabbed as many blankets as she could find, Fulucina and Alma started to push the men outside the door.

"What's happen'?" demanded Bors.

Alma looked at him in disbelief and then turned to Vanora.

"What's he talking about? He's got eleven children…he should know all about this by now!"

Vanora rolled her blue eyes and said as she shut the door in the Knights' faces, "They were always gone when I gave birth. They don't know about this part. Oh sure, they know academically about labor and stuff, but they've never witnessed the pain of one, I believe."

The Knights stared at one another with wide eyes and white faces. The scream that emerged from Cordelia was one that would forever scar their hearts and minds. That couldn't be apart of birthing-it just couldn't be!

Emogen, who had rushed to her cousin and Arthur's side, gently removed Arthur's hand from Cordelia's and said loudly, "Arthur! Leave the birthing to us. Go outside and wait."

He stared sightlessly at her and she sighed.

"Lancelot!" she screamed.

Immediately the door burst open and her savior was there with wide eyes searching for any dangers.

Lancelot saw his wife's smile and knew everything was fine. She pushed Arthur forward uselessly and said, "Can you remove him please? He's not being of any help to us, and we need the room to work."

Lancelot sighed in relief and automatically moved to forcefully move his friend. When they were once again in the hallway, Fulucina slammed the door on them and said shortly, "And stay there!"

The Knights stared at one another helplessly as the screaming started once again.

Inside the royal chambers, Emogen sat at her cousin's side and gently patted her cousin's warmed brow. Her face was red with the exertion she was using to push her child out, and her hair was matted down by sweat. Her eyes though, that was what amazed her the most. Cordelia's face showed determination and love.

"Cordy, what happened in between the time we left and your screams?" she asked softly as the screaming died down and Cordelia relaxed against her pillows.

Cordelia looked into her cousin's eyes and said, "For the first time since my nightmares started Emmy, I listened to my husband. I know the Bishop's dead, but in my heart he was always there, in my dreams, to kill my baby. At first the dreams were about Etain, my first, but as the eighth month moved into the ninth month, the baby changed to this one. I reacted on instinct. I wanted to protect him so badly, that I forced myself to slow my entire body down. To me, it seemed as only a week or two had passed, but truthfully a full month had passed."

Then her eyes filled up with tears, "I nearly killed him in my attempt to save him Emmy, I…I don't think I can do this!"

Emogen hugged her tightly to her and said strongly, "**Yes, you can! You have to!** This babe depends on **YOU**, Cordelia, you! You can't fail him. I know you won't. You love him to much to fail him."

Cordelia smiled at her and her eyes grew determined again as Vanora and Enys came to stand at the end of the bed ready to take the child as he was pushed out of his mother's womb.

Enys smiled at her friend and said as Vanora knelt down, "Since I'm to big to be doing any kneeling, Vanny here will be doing so under my commands. Don't you worry, this little Princeling will be here in no time!"

Cordelia smiled at their attempts to cheer her up and said as another contraction hit her, "Let's get this over w**ITTTTTTHHHHHHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!**"

The Knights literally jumped out of their skin when they heard the screaming again.

Arthur, as well, jumped out of his stupor, and exclaimed, "Cordelia!"

Lancelot grabbed his shoulder and said fiercely as his friend and King tried to open the door, "You can't go in there, Arthur! She'll be fine! They will not let her **OR** the babe die!"

Hours later, Lancelot had to bite his lip again as the screaming from the royal chambers reached an all knew crescendo. Cordelia sounded like she was dying in the most awful way imaginable-and as shocking as it sounded to him-he couldn't even think up such a torture device!

The Knights watched worriedly as Arthur paced up and down the hallway in front of his chambers. They had been there for hours when the door burst open and revealed Fulucina and Alma. Both looked a bit disheveled and flushed. They heard Enys and Emogen's voices inside the room blending together,_ "Get more warm water and towels!"_ _"Push just once more Delia, you can do this!"_ And then Cordelia's pain filled scream of, "**I AM PUSHING! AAAAAHHHHH!**"

As the door slammed shut, Fulucina said, "Don't worry Arthur, all is going fine. Both baby and mother are healthy and well."

Galahad looked even paler than Arthur did earlier and asked a bit shakily, "Are all births like this?"

Alma turned to him and said reassuringly, "Oh no, no two pregnancies are the same."

Then she added with a smirk as they rushed to the storage rooms below them, "Sometimes, they can last for days!"

Galahad blanched and _'gracefully'_ (more like fainted) fell to the floor. Then the screaming started again. It was so loud; it jolted Galahad from his blackout. It was so loud this time; they could hear ever little word Cordelia said, "THAT MAN IS **NEVER** TOUCHING ME EVER AGAIN! I CAN'T **BELIEVE** HE DID THIS TO ME! I'LL KILL HIM! NO, I'LL CUT OFF HIS MANHOOD AND DISEMBOWLE HIM! GREAT GODDESS….**THIS FCKING HURTS!**"

Arthur and the other Knights winced as a servant came up to him and said cheerfully, "Ah, all is going well then? Shall I inform the staff that the new prince or princess is coming, My King?"

The Knights spun around in shock. Out of the corner of his eye, Lancelot caught Tristran mumbling to himself and slapping himself on the head. Despite the situation, he had to laugh quietly at the scout. Tristran had been so focused on his friends and leaders that he had totally ignored to outside world. What a scout they had!

There before them was an older female servant. She was holding a basket full of vegetables ready for the kitchens and smiling warmly at them all.

Gawain said, "Woman, how is this all right? The Queen's in pain!"

The woman frowned at them and said, "Well of course she is, My Lords, she's in labor."

Tristran said, "But all women have to do is push, how hard is that? Why is it so painful to them?"

The old lady stared at them in shock. Then she shook her head and mumbled to herself. Lancelot was luckily enough to be close enough to hear her, _"Of course, the bloody boys were always away when a birthing occurred. I bet they've never seen or heard a birthing."_

"Lady," he began charmingly, "while we know how the birthing happens, we do not know all the intricacies, apparently. Tell us, why do women experience such pain?"

The woman smiled at him and said with a flattered tone, "Oh, well it's quite simple. It's like trying to push one of your saddled bags through a whole the size of two nail tops. It's quite painful, but that's women's lot in life."

A tiny voice piped in tartly as Fulucina and Alma rushed back into the rooms, "Then what's men's lot in life?"

Before they doors closed, Fulucina ordered shortly, "Caoimhe and Dierdre found us in the storage rooms, and followed us. We did not have time to take her to Lady Sera. You watch them."

Lancelot couldn't help but smile as the old woman's eyes widened in panic for a split second before they calmed and she said smoothly with challenging eyes in his and the other Knights' direction, "Their eyebrows grow together."

The Knights' withheld their chuckles in their throats and the twins crossed their arms and said, "We're not lettin' no boys touch us, **EVER**!"

Bors beamed at them and said, "Good girls! I knew you two were smart!"

Lancelot winced at Bors' choice of words. To be truthful, **ALL** the Knights winced. _Sometimes, Bors just doesn't get it._ Thought Lancelot as the twins frowned darkly at their father and stomped down harshly on his booted, soft leather booted, feet. The Knights, including Arthur this time, burst out laughing as Bors yelped in pain and began to hop around on his feet alternating them to this hands to comfort them and to the floor so as not to trip. To Lancelot, Bors looked like he was attempting to dance one of the Pict ritual dances, and failing horribly, or should I say hilariously?

Caoimhe glared at her father and started, "And you da! How dare you put mummy through this kinda pain! Not ONCE, not TWICE, not even **THREE** times! Nooo, you had to do it **_ELEVEN TIMES!_**"

Lancelot watched Bors freeze at his daughter's words. The other Knights did too. Dierdre continued with a superior look and crossed arms, "Shame on you daddy! You're lucky mummy isn't dead!"

Lancelot shook his head as Bors shakily lowered himself to the ground and said in a whisper, "You're right, Vanny has done this eleven times. And I never knew the pain she went through. She was alone all those times."

The old woman barked a laugh and said sharply to the twins, "Now you listen here little Ladies, it isn't all ye da's fault ye mum ended up birthin' eleven babes. She had a hand in it too. But, any woman would gladly go through the pain to hold and see the child born from her body. It's all a part of life, children. Now, come, I'll take ye to Lady Sera."

She curtsied to the Knights and said, "I'll be takin' my leave, My Lords. I'll also be tellin' the staff about the heir."

Then she was gone. But the Knights didn't hear her. They were all thinking about their own wives and the pain they will have to endure in the future. Lancelot most of all since his twins were due in two weeks, at the most! As the time stretched on, Lancelot's brows furrowed. Something was missing.

Then he realized, "Arthur, Cordelia's not screaming anymore…"

As Arthur shot to his feet in panic, the door opened to reveal a tired but proud and awed Vanora. In her arms, wrapped in a soft blue blanket, was a tiny head with thin black hairs and red skin.

As she handed the baby to Arthur she said, "Say hello to your new son, Prince Mordwen Pendragon Camelot, of the House of Camelot, My King. Queen Cordelia named him as you agreed."

Lancelot smiled as his godson was held lovingly in his brother's arms. He almost laughed when he realized that this was the first time Arthur had ever held a baby as young as the newly born Mordwen, and when he did realize what he was doing-he'd panic. But to his surprise, Arthur didn't panic.

He simply held his son and said, "Hello, my son. I'm your father, Arthur."

Arthur tilted Mordwen slightly towards him and said just as softly, "This is your Godfather, Lancelot. He and I will teach you all you need to know, I promise."

Vanora smiled, snorted, snatched the baby away as skillfully as they worked their weapons, and said, "Yes, well Mordwen needs to be fed and then he needs to sleep. So, Arthur, Cordelia is awaitin' ya, get in here!"

She spun around and walked back to the bed where the Knights could see Cordelia sitting up propped against the large headboard. She smiled serenely as Emogen ran her hands gently through her locks of sweaty black hair.

As Arthur handed his son back to Cordelia, they watched as the new mother pulled down her shift to reveal a plump white breast. Mordwen snatched it up quickly and the Lords and Ladies of Camelot smiled. It was touching.

Lancelot walked forward, placed a kiss upon Cordelia's crow, and said, "He's beautiful my queen."

Cordelia's sapphire eyes shimmered with happy tears as she placed a kiss upon his cheek and said in a whisper, "Thank you."

He nodded and said, "As much as I want to be here…"

Enys turned to him and said with her hands planted on her hips, "Yes, you had best take Emmy back to her bed. She is exhausted since she had to support Delia. I'll be by to check on her in a hour or so."

Lancelot nodded and gently picked up his sleeping wife. As he left Arthur said, "Wait, I'll come with you, Lancelot."

Lancelot waited by the doors. When Arthur reached his side, he said, "I must speak with you about something. We can do this in your study."

He nodded and watched Arthur close his chamber door. He sighed. The picturesque scene with all the Knights kissing Cordelia's brow would be forever seared into his memories. It just seemed like the best thing to do with such a memory.

When they reached his chambers, Arthur gladly opened the large oak door and waved Lancelot, with Emogen still in his arms, through first. Lancelot smiled and nodded at him. Very quickly, Lancelot had his wife settled. He smiled at her pale visage and kissed her lips softly. Emogen sighed and shifted slightly to get into the bed deeper.

Lancelot turned back to his friend and waved him to another door. Once through, Arthur saw the dark oak of Lancelot's Study.

When they were seated, Lancelot asked, "Well, what is it you wanted to ask me?"

Lancelot watched Arthur take a deep breath and said, "I want you to go back to Sarmatia Lancelot."

Lancelot felt his mouth drop open as he stared at his friend in disbelief. Before he could get mad and rage at him, Arthur interrupted with an ease that spoke of just how much experience he has had doing this, "I want you to go back to see your family. You did promise them that you would return, Lancelot. I've never known you to break your word for any reason. Somehow, someway, you **ALWAYS** keep your promises. I, I just don't want you to break this one. Especially, when I know you still **DO** want to go and see them."

Lancelot felt his rage be extinguished as he listened to his friend's reason. It was true, he **DID** want to go back and see his family. But, Emogen could not travel now, and he wasn't sure about leaving the position of Knight Commander to his Pict second-Godrerik. The younger blond man was always flirting with his wife **AND** he wanted to have the glory of battle to quickly to safely protect himself and the army in battle. He didn't trust him to hold the position for three months by himself, let alone the near year he would need to travel to Sarmatia, stay for a while to visit, and travel back home to Briton, alone.

Lancelot sighed and explained this to his friend. Lancelot watched as Arthur thought about his words, and saw his eyes darken at his analysis of Godrerik. It was true that he had been placed into the position because Merkin wanted to have a Pict loyal to him in a place of power, but he craved the taste of blood to much to be an effective Knight Commander.

Arthur sighed, nodded, and said softly, "You're right Lancelot. I just hate to be the reason you have broken your word to your family."

Lancelot shrugged and said easily, "Arthur, they probably think I'm dead anyways because I should have been there nearly a year ago. Sure, I'd like to go and see them; to tell them that I'm alive and well at least. But, the honest truth is, this is my home now. You, Emmy, the other Knights, you're my family now. I wouldn't trade any of you for all the gold or freedom in the world."

Arthur smiled brightly at him, gave him a hug, and as they left the Study through a second door that lead into the Lyon Hall, exclaimed happily, "I'm a daddy!"

Lancelot laughed loudly and cried back as his friend vanished around a corner, "Go to bed you old Cad!"

Arthur's resounding laugh was his only reply.

Lancelot smiled to himself as he thought _it's been two weeks since Cordy gave birth to Mordwen. The Kingdom's been celebrating non- stop since then, November 6, 469AD. I think we've played host to a total of hundreds if not thousands of Britons, Scots, Gauls, and Saxons in these last two weeks. _

A slight groan of pain caught his attention and he turned to Emogen sitting on their bed. Her face was flushed and screwed up in pain.

"Are you all right Emmy? Should I get Enys?"

Emogen glared at him and said, "For the last time, **I'M FINE!** The one on the left is just very active and he or she is kicking and pushing against me harder than normal."

Lancelot gulped and raised his hands in defeat. He shook his head and grumbled softly, "I was just asking, good Lord."

His eyes screwed together as he exhaled and thought to himself from the window where he was sitting staring out into the clear Briton dawn, _She's gotten worst as the time for our twins birth draws nearer. I know it's not her fault, but I worry. I can't help it! **FOCUS LANCELOT!** You need to come to terms with this religion thing. So, do I. or do I not believe in God? Or is it that I **DO** believe that **SOMEONE** is up there, but I'm just not sure it's God and have just placed the title of God on to that divine person? Or perhaps, I do believe in him after all thanks to Arthur and his lectures of how good and attentive God is? Or, I don't and I just say these words because I've heard them so long that I've come to mimic them in times of great distress? Oh, I really don't know! But…I suppose if I were to be honest with myself, I do truly believe in someone up there. I'm just not sure if it is God, the Goddess and the Green-Horned Man, or the Gods of Sarmatia…and another thing, can I still pray to the Sarmatian Gods if I no longer consider myself Sarmatian? I did renounce that heritage more than a year and a half ago…okay, so whoever is up there certainly isn't the Gods of Sarmatia. At least I've scratched them off my list. So, is it God or the Goddess…the problem here is, I believe in both of them, I think. And they are so different that, that is a conflict, but at the same time they are similar in philosophy. **I JUST DON'T KNOW!**_

Emogen groaned even louder this time and whimpered, "Lance…get Enys…my water just broke."

Lancelot looked at her wide-eyed not comprehending what she had just said. He distantly saw her roll her eyes and shout, "LANCE WAKE UP!"

He blinked and said in a daze, "Enys…right…water…broken…okay."

He stumbled out of their rooms and into the Hall of Lyon where his family's Coat of Arms, a lion ready to pounce with his jaws wide open in a roar with two identical swords crossed behind it, could be seen engraved into the very stonewalls of the castle. Emogen's screech of pain jolted him out of his stupor. He took off in a flash.

When he reached Galahad's and Enys' rooms, he pounded on the door and again distantly thought _I hope she's awake, it is awfully early._

A few minutes later, and to him that seemed eternally long, the door opened and Galahad's disheveled appearance was revealed.

He rubbed his eyes and said darkly, "You have better have a good reason for waking me and Enys up at four bloody o'clock in the bloody morning."

Lancelot glared at him and said loudly, so Enys could hear him as well, "It is, Emmy's water just broke!"

"WHAT?" shouted Enys' in a slightly worried tone as she waddled up to him in her light blue night gown.

He nodded and said, "Emmy's water broke. She sent me to tell you this."

Enys let loose a string of explicit words that made even they, the battle hardened Knights of the Round Table, flush in embarrassment, and said shortly, "Go wake up the others Lancelot. Tell Vanora to bring as many warm towels as she find and Fulucina to grab a needle and thread from my Healing Chambers."

Lancelot blinked at her in confusion. She sighed and said as she pulled on a cover robe, "She's in labor…a bloody month early!"

He paled and raced away.

Galahad paled as well, but he quickly helped his wife to Lancelot and Emogen's chambers and said as they reached the Lady of Peace's side, "What can I do?"

His wife looked at him and said, "Help her to get comfortable. Lean her up against as many pillows as you can before she starts to complain to badly."

Galahad nodded and smiled tightly at Emogen as he helped her into a sitting position. She smiled back, but her smile was filled with fear.

Galahad placed a kiss upon her brow and said softly as the other Ladies of Healing, Ula and Alma, and the other Knights arrived, "It'll be all right."

She smiled bravely at him and nodded. Within minutes, Vanora and Fulucina arrived with Lancelot right behind them, and Alma was forcefully removing them all from his chambers.

"But…" he protested.

Alma gave him a hard stare with her brown eyes, so like his own, and said flat out, "You cannot be in there with her Lancelot. Enys, Ula, and I might have to remove the babes from her womb ourselves because she is very early. You being there will be a large distraction we cannot have."

Then her voice softened as she ended by closing the door, "Don't worry, she and the twins will survive, I promise."

Lancelot found himself staring at the door, and said to himself as he flung himself at Arthur, "I'm afraid that's one promise you can't keep, Alma…only Emmy has that power."

Arthur gave him a hug and said, "Emmy, is strong. I bet she'll deliver your babies naturally and all will be well."

Lancelot gave him an exasperated look and said wistfully, "I wish I had your faith Arthur! If I have it, perhaps I won't be so pessimistic?"

The others didn't know what to say to that, he saw, so they did all they could: smile and sit with him to show their support and loyalty to him.

From behind the door, a loud wail was heard along with the words "**I'M GOING TO BLOODY FCKING KILL HIM! IIIIIIIEEEEEAAAAAHHHH!**"

Lancelot cleared his throat nervously as the others chuckled a bit and Bors said uselessly, "Well, if she's that loud, all must be well, right?"

Lancelot just smiled sarcastically at him and waited for the next round of screams that would reassure him that his wife was fine. But all they heard, for a long time, was silence. Not exactly silence, but more mutterings to be precise. It was all meshed together because they were so far away and had to listen through a large, thick oak door.

Then…

"PUSH EMOGEN!" shouted Cordelia's supportive voice.

"**I AMMMMMMMM!**"

Then they heard Enys' voice, "Come on! I can see the head!"

"**AAAAHHHHHHHHH! EEEEEEEERRRRRRRGGGGGG!**"

Then…

"I have her!" Came Enys' happy voice through the door.

The Knights all jumped to the feet in shock and fear as a loud wail reached them all through the door and walls, like it was trying to reach the very heavens themselves, "WWWHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Lancelot swayed as Arthur hugged him and said, "You have a daughter Lancelot!"

"A daughter…" he whispered in a dazed, awed, happy tone.

Lancelot was so deliriously happy that he started to dance a jig he had learned from some visiting Scots a week earlier. He even went around his fellow Knights and friends and gave them each a big kiss upon the lips. The Knights growled at him, but they didn't have the heart to yell at him. Even the stoic Tristran couldn't. Even he had a large smile on his face because he was happy for his friend and attempting not to burst out laughing at Lancelot's actions.

"Come on Emmy, just one more time!" shouted Cordelia supportively making them all quiet down and listen anxiously yet excitedly.

They heard a soft murmur that sounded tired and weary. It made the Knights' happy feelings crumble because it sounded so different from Emogen's normal tone of voice. Lancelot bit his lip and stared at the door worriedly.

Ula's voice was heard next followed by Vanora's, _"You can do this Emmy!" "She's right lass, and just think, you'll have another child to hold when you're done!"_

"Okay." Exclaimed Enys proudly as she added, "Now, PUSH!"

"**EEEERRRRGGGGGG! AAAHHHH!**"

"I can see the head! Come on! Just **ONCE MORE** and you're done Emmy!" encouraged Fulucina excitedly.

There was a chocking laugh and then….

"**_GET THIS BABY OUTTA ME RIGHT NOW!_**" roared Emogen much to the shock of the Knights. This was something they had not expected from their Lady of Peace. Lancelot grinned. His wife was perfectly fine.

Then….

"WWWHHHHAAAAAAAAAA!"

"It's another girl!" exclaimed Ula happily as his rooms became a flurry of voices and cries of happiness. Lancelot couldn't stop grinning, as interspersed with the Ladies voices', baby wails could be heard.

After many long and difficult minutes-nearly an hour he was sure!-, the door opened to reveal Fulucina and Vanora each holding a baby wrapped in warm soft woolen pink blankets.

Vanora offered the child in her arms first, "Lancelot, meet your eldest daughter, Lady Erlina Lyon of the House of Lyon."

Lancelot gulped as his arms cradled the tiny life he had help to create with the love of his life, his wife.

He leaned down and kissed her still reddish tinged head and said as her tiny black hairs tickled his lips, "Hello my Erlina, my princess. I am Lancelot, your father. I've been waiting eagerly for you and your sister to arrive, you know."

His eldest daughter simply cuddled into his chest and continued to sleep on. He smiled.

Fulucina added as she handed him his second daughter, "And this is Lady Enid Lyon of the House Lyon, My Lord."

Lancelot roughly had to swallow the sudden lump in his throat. It suddenly didn't matter to him that he didn't get the son he had wanted. By just holding these two treasures, all his dreams flooded his thoughts, and he smiled largely as the dream with Emogen and a pixie-like girl appeared. Only this time, another identical pixie-like girl was added into the dream. His daughters; his princess and little emerald. He gasped as Enid twisted slightly in his hold, and her tiny foot lightly thumped his chest. She had to be the acrobat that Emogen had been complaining about during the last few months. He chuckled. He knew he'd have long talks with her already about the right time to be active and the wrong time to be. When you are outside dancing-Good. When you're inside your mummy-Bad.

He cleared his throat again and said, "Hello, Little Enid, like I told your sister, I've been waiting to meet you both. My emerald, I'll have to fight the boys off with swords of the strongest steel-I can already see it. You both will be the Sun and Moon of this entire Kingdom."

As Arthur came to his side, he said, "And, this man beside me is your Godfather and King, Arthur. He's also my best friend and your uncle…you two will have so much more than I had, my loves. This I promise…"

He stopped and asked, "May I go in?"

Vanora and Fulucina smiled and nodded. Quickly, Lancelot, with the other following close behind, entered his chambers and found Emogen already asleep with Cordelia running her hand through her thick black curly sweaty locks.

"How…?" he asked fearfully.

Enys smiled up at him and said, "She is fine. Erlina and Enid are too. Emmy fed them before Van and Cina brought them out to you. They'll all sleep for a few hours before the twins will be in need to another feeding. For now, just get to know your daughters, Lance."

With that she placed a kiss upon Emmy's forehead and one upon his cheek. She lovingly caressed the babies she had helped to birth and walked into Galahad's embrace. The others did much the same, but Arthur and Cordelia also placed kisses upon his daughters' foreheads.

Lancelot smiled as he heard Arthur say, "You will be our Kingdom's Sun and Moon. I know you will be to your family-this includes me as well Little Ones."

He smiled at them. His daughters-that sounded so nice! He couldn't get over how proud he was of them and they weren't even an hour old yet.

When the others cleared their chambers, Emogen asked, "Are they gone?"

He laughed slightly and said, "Yeah, they are."

"Good, I thought they'd never leave. No offence to them, but…I want time alone with our little ones." Hastily added Emogen as she tiredly sat up.

He smiled at her in understanding and handed Enid over to her.

When he settled into the bed beside her, she leaned lovingly into his open side and said, "Can you believe it? They're here! We're parents, Lance!"

As they gazed lovingly at their children, Lancelot said rather than asked in a voice full of emotion, "They'll be the very sun and moon to us, won't they?"

Emogen smiled, nodded at him, and echoed strongly, "Yes, they'll be the Sun and Moon of House Lyon!"

He smiled-It fit.

It's FINISHED! If you want to know what Arthur said to Cordelia-tough! I'm not writing it. Perhaps, in the far future, I might. But that'll be after all the other fics are finished. Cordelia's birth was long because of her trauma. Emogen's was faster because she wasn't forcing her body to do anything but what it was made to do. Plus, she is one of those women that give birth quickly-LUCKY!

The next story is called Reunion and deals with some Sarmatian visitors to Camelot's doors. The Knights will once again be in the crossfire of emotions that they'd rather stay far away from but knowing their luck (or me as the case may be!) they'll be right smack in the middle!


End file.
